In America everybody is of the opinion that he has no social superiors, since all men are equal, but he does not admit that he has no social inferiors, for, from the time of Jefferson onward, the doctrine that all men are equal applies only upwards, not downwards.

Bertrand Russell

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Everyone benefits if the discriminatory, inhumane and mean-spirited Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is declared unconstitutional. Taking this challenge into the Federal Courts – to the Supreme Court if necessary – is a very costly endeavor. Please consider making a donation of any amount. Funds are used for legal expenses and related public education. Your support is desperately needed and appreciated.

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Reunite This Family
c/o Haverhill Bank
180 Merrimack Street
Haverhill, MA 01830

The “Reunite this Family” term was coined by the Boston Globe in an editorial in support of Tim Coco and Genesio “Junior” Oliveira.

“Great strides toward equality for gays have been made in this country, but the woeful fate of Tim Coco and Genesio Oliveira shows that thousands of same-sex couples, even in Massachusetts , still aren't really full citizens.”

“Reunite this Family,”
Boston Globe, Aug. 27, 2007

Media inquiries should be directed to Erin Hoefler, 978-374-1900, Ext. 114

Love in exile: One year later, Brazilian spouse still blocked from returning

Bay Windows, August 13, 2008

On a cool summer evening on a quiet residential street in Haverhill about 35 friends, neighbors and family members gathered for a candlelight vigil to mark the one-year anniversary of the forced separation of Tim Coco and Genesio Oliveira, Jr. The couple was legally married in 2005, but Oliveira, a Brazilian citizen, was forced to return to his native country last August after his request for asylum in the United States was denied.

Coco held the vigil at the couple’s Haverhill home, now occupied by Coco and the couple’s dog, Q-Tip, to raise awareness about the unjust treatment he and Oliveira have received as a result of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). While immigration law allows spouses of American citizens to obtain legal permanent residency, under DOMA Coco and Oliveira are not considered spouses. The couple is considering filing a legal challenge to overturn DOMA in federal court, but Coco told the crowd at the vigil that he and Oliveira have become activists by necessity, not by choice. He said if the federal government was willing to allow Oliveira to return they would happily resume their normal lives and abandon any efforts to take legal action.

"Junior is a victim of a government-sponsored hate crime. The United States government knows we’re a family, they know we’re legally married. ... We’re willing to go away quietly, just let us get back together," said Coco, who owns a Haverhill-based advertising agency.
[Full Text from Bay Windows]

'I just want Junior to be able to come home'

Haverhill Gazette, August 13, 2008

Family and friends gathered at the home of Tim Coco and Genesio "Junior" Oliveira Jr. on Tuesday night for a candlelight vigil marking the one-year anniversary of the couple's involuntary separation.

Candles, one for each day they have been apart, glowed outside their home on Woodrow Avenue.
"Junior came here in 2002 on a tourist visa and, as they say, the rest is history," Coco told the gathering.

The couple met in Boston six years ago when Oliveira was visiting from Brazil. A long-distance romance began, and Oliveira returned to the United States. They were married in 2005, after the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled that denying same-sex couples the right to marry violated the state constitution.

But their marriage is not recognized by the federal government for immigration purposes, Coco said, leading the couple on a yearslong journey to get permission for Oliveira to immigrate here legally.
[Full Text from Haverhill Gazette]

Reunite this Family

Boston Globe, August 27, 2007

TIM COCO, 46, runs a successful advertising agency in Haverhill. Six years ago he met Genesio Januario Oliveira, who was visiting Boston on vacation from his home in Brazil. The two fell in love and in 2005, under rights protected by the Massachusetts Constitution, they were married. Since then, they have lived happily and quietly in a Boston suburb with their dog, Q-Tip.

Except that two weeks ago Oliveira was forced to return to Brazil under orders from the US Board of Immigration Appeals, which denied his application for the asylum status he hoped would allow him to stay in the United States with his husband. The couple needed to pursue the asylum route because their same-sex marriage is not recognized by the federal government, and federal laws supersede states’ when it comes to immigration.

According to the 2000 US Census, some 35,000 same-sex couples who list themselves as “unmarried partners” similarly include one person who is a US citizen and one person who is not. They do not all try to follow the law as dutifully as Coco and Oliveira. Indeed, Oliveira is probably rare among immigrants for complying with the BIA’s June order to “voluntarily depart” within 60 days or risk deportation, fines, and a 10-year bar from applying for another US visa. When he arrived at the US consulate in Sao Paulo to certify he had left within the 60 days, his visa was canceled. “I guess you don't get any points for playing by the rules,” says Tim.

Because Congress passed – and former President Clinton signed – the mean-spirited Defense of Marriage Act in 1996, no federal rights extend to the roughly 9,000 married same-sex couples in Massachusetts. There are more than 1,000 different benefits – from filing joint income taxes to receiving Social Security benefits – that are denied to same-sex couples everywhere in the country, whether they live in a state that recognizes their marriage or civil union status or not. The ability of a US citizen to sponsor a husband or wife for immigration to the United States, called a form I-130, is just one of them.
[Full Text from the Boston Globe]

Gay Haverhill Man Seeks Return of Spouse from Brazil

Eagle-Tribune, March 12, 2008

HAVERHILL — Six years ago, Tim Coco had just left his Boston office and, with time to kill, he ducked into the bar Vapor to relax and have a quick drink.

It was there that he met a Brazilian man — a medical student in Bolivia — who came to New England on vacation. The two immediately hit it off and started dating.

And even when Genesio Oliveira Jr. left the country, he and Coco stayed in touch, talking on the phone and e-mailing constantly. But be apart they couldn’t. By April 2002, Oliveira moved to Haverhill to be with Coco for good. In 2005, they married — the same year Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriages.

“I wanted him to stay here but I wanted him to be legal,” Coco said.

That dream has turned into the most emotional and costly battle of Coco’s life.
[Full Text from the Eagle-Tribune]

Uniting American Families Act Unlikely To Pass Before November Says Immigration Equality

New England Blade, February 29, 2008

Haverhill resident Tim Coco has seen his husband, Genesio “Junior” Juanario Oliveira, once in the six months since U.S. immigration officials forced Oliveira to return to his native Brazil. Fed up with the lack of progress on any Congressional action that would reunite the couple, this week Coco filed an “I-130 Petition for Alien Relative,” to sponsor his husband for immigration.

If Coco and his husband were a heterosexual couple, there would be no question of his ability to sponsor his spouse. Since they’re gay, when the petition is rejected — as it surely will be, because the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prohibits the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages — the couple intends to purse the matter in the federal courts, all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. If that happens, it will be the first head-on challenge to the law.
[Full Text from New England Blade]