>>> let me bring in brandon pearlburg. an american living in london with his foreign-born partner. the couple had to move in order to stay together because of doma . thank you for joining me.
>> thank you.
>> first of all, what is your impression of today. with the excerpts and analysis coming out regarding justices and their comments, brandon ?
>> well, i don't want it make any predecks, but we know every time in our country's history that there's been an expansion of civil rights , that has been a good thing for the population as a whole, and those have been moments that we look back upon with tremendous national pride . so i guess i would say i'm cautiously opt moistic that this is going to to be another one of those moments.
>> you mentioned national pride . you are an american citizen . you love this country. as i read, nearly seven years ago you decided you could no longer live here based on love, if you will. tell me a little bit about what happened and how you made this decision to leave your home and go to london .
>> well, what happened for me was that in the fall of 2011 , i had been with my same sex british partner for just about seven years then. we've been together another year now. and he was living in the states with me pursuant to an employer sponsored visa. but those visas have expiration date . the way you stay in the country is with a green card . he wasn't going to to get a green ward from his employer. doma made it so he wouldn't have a green card through me. so i had to make the decision whether or not i would live my life in the country that i love or move to england and live with the person that i love. i chose the latter. january of last year we moved to the uk. while i don't regret that decision at all, this has been the most difficult and humbling period of my entire life.
>> as i understand it, you left your law firm , rented out your place, said good-bye to all of your friend and family and you end up there in london . and yours is not a situation where you're in a bubble. there are others, and in fact, profiled in a new york times article not very long ago that how many americans have done the same thing. forced to leave the united states as a result of doma .
>> and we're the lucky ones tp there are so many people who don't have england or canada or holland or country like that to o go to. and families are split apart. and you can imagine if there are children involved, that what that means. and financially, what that means. i add career i was forced to leave. i was finally getting to the place in my adult hood where i was reaching professional success and i a i arrived here. for 11 months i couldn't find work. i went on interview after interview after interview but i lacked london experience. so i was pushed down to the bottom of the ladder unfairly. this is what doma maept for me.
>> if doma is struck down, will that mean you and your partner would be married in new york, for example, and move back here?
>> you know, that's a difficult question for me to answer. obviously, there's a lot that goes into uprooting, both ways you go across the atlantic. that's a decision my partner and i would have to take after reflecting a lot. but you can't just snap your fingers and get your life back. this wasn't a blip. this was a major, major hardship and sacrifice that i've had to endure and that so many other people have had to endure.
>> brandon , thank you so much for coming on to dois cuss your life and as you point out would be make this major life decision as a result of the defensive marriage act . thank you for your time. we will keep up-to-date with you.
>> thank you.
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