FREEDOM!

In 1999, as Göran and I were making preparations to go on a trip to Sweden and applying for passports, we made a very unpleasant discovery.

Göran did not have a birth certificate. And because his mother went under an assumed name after he was born, never kept accurate records of anything, and refused to answer his questions about what his birth name was or who his biological father was, all our efforts to locate it were stymied. Göran's mother died in 1996 without ever answering any of the many questions he deserved answers to. The ramifications of this were dumbfounding. Among others:

1) He could never leave the U.S., not even to go to Canada. If he did, he might never be able to get back into the country again.

2) He could never get a driver's license or legally drive a car.

3) As employment laws continue to crack down on proof of citizenship requirements, he faced the possibility of becoming unemployable.

4) Despite the fact that he has always paid the same taxes everyone else pays, he would never be able to collect government medical or social security benefits.

5) Most horrifyingly, an immigration attorney warned us that the U.S. government could actually imprison him indefinitely, on the grounds that he had no right to be here unless he could prove he was a citizen.

Over the last eight years we collected an accordion file full of documents, trying to accumulate what evidence we could of his citizenship, and whatever we could learn about his mother and her history. He's lived here all his life. His stepfather has known him since before he has any real memories. But again because of his mother's goofy record-keeping, the few documents we had contained conflicting information, making the task much more complicated. We had two separate attorneys who attempted to assist us on a pro bono basis. We went to Senator Paul Wellstone (his office refused to even talk to us). We went to Congressman Martin Sabo (his office was equally unhelpful). We were scared of Republican legislators, and didn't even try them. Oh how we prayed for the legalization of same-sex marriage!

Because of Göran's anomalous status, for the last eight years we just had to learn to live with a certain amount of day-to-day, low-level anxiety that came with knowing that the wrong chain of events could lead to some very, very bad outcomes for us.

Finally, after the election of Keith Ellison to Congress, Göran decided we had nothing to lose by asking for his help. We wrote him a letter, and to our shock and amazement, his office contacted us and agreed to help.

We provided them with the various documents we had accumulated over the years. The bottom line was, we had actually done our homework and had all the information that was needed to locate the actual birth certificate. However -- catch 22! -- because he didn't have any state issued ID in the name on his birth certificate, the Tennessee Department of Vital Records (Göran was born in Memphis) refused to perform a birth certificate search for us. Ellison's office was able get them to perform a search using the information we provided, and, lo and behold, on July 10, Göran received a phone call from Keith Ellison's assistant Mike Siebenaler informing us that his birth certificate had been located.

Göran and I have cried tears of joy. We still can't get over it. We can breathe freely for the first time in eight years since this nightmare began. This was literally the answer to prayers that I had been praying nightly for almost a year and a half now. So when we finally got the good news, we thanked Ellison's office. We thanked the attorneys who have done pro bono work for us. And as soon as we were alone at home together, we knelt down to offer prayers of thanksgiving to the true Author of our freedom.

After paying $12 to the Tennessee Bureau of Vital Records, he received a copy of the birth certificate. There were still other bureaucratic hoops we have had to jump through. But today, birth certificate and other documentation in hand, we went before a judge and finally got a court order to have his birth certificate amended to reflect his current name. Now the final step is to send the court order to Tennessee with a $27 fee, and then, after eight long years, we will finally be able to apply for a passport.

Thank God. We're going to start planning that Sweden trip again!