HRC joins huge march against Arizona immigration law

PHOENIX — About 100 people have marched behind a Human Rights Campaign
banner in today’s large march against Arizona’s controversial law
targeting undocumented immigrants.

The statute, enacted in April, requires police to check an individual’s
immigration status whenever an officer suspects the individual may be in
the U.S. illegally. The law has been dubbed, “Papers, please.”

Some 50,000 people have joined the march to the state Capitol.

“It’s really incredibly important that we show our unity with our Latino
brothers and sisters,” said Fred Sainz, HRC’s vice president of
communications, who joined the march. “This is not their fight alone. We
are all in this together. We can never forget that the people who came up
with this horrible measure are the very same exact people who defeated
marriage equality here in Arizona.”

“They are not single-issue folks,” Sainz said in an interview. “They are
aligned against all progressive issues, including LGBT issues. They need
to understand that we are aligned against them.”

University of Pennsylvania law professor Tobias Barrington Wolff also was
part of the LGBT contingent.

Wolff chaired the Obama campaign’s advisory group on LGBT issues and is
known for his legal advocacy for same-sex marriage.

He said it is important for national-level LGBT leaders to work in
solidarity with campaigns against the law.

by Rex Wockner