WASHINGTON -- Former Rep. Patrick Murphy of Pennsylvania, who was an eloquent and passionate voice for repeal of "Don't Ask, Don't Tell," has joined the Center for American Progress.

“I believe that people who are either transsexuals or transvestites — I don’t know what the proper term is — traditionally are more liberal-minded thinking people, tend to associate more with the defendants because, obviously, they have been either ridiculed before or are feeling in a position of being in a microscope all the time and are outcasts which lends themselves to associating more with the defendant.”

I am your child. Your grandchild. Your sibling. I am your relative.

I grew up with you. I goofed around with you on the playground. I went to your birthday parties and celebrated the holidays with you.

I went to school with you. I joined social clubs with you. I played sports with you. I had your back in school.

I befriended you in college. I served on student government with you. I befriended your wife, and the two you of you gave me the great honor of being your son’s godfather.

They met at a birthday party in 1990, were instantly smitten, and, after years of transatlantic romancing, got married in California in 2008.

Today, they have four adopted children, ages 6 to 11, and a comfortable home in Harrisburg.

But a sword of Damocles hangs over the couple, only one of whom is an American citizen. The other is French, and vulnerable to deportation.

Under federal immigration law, married binational couples usually can fix this precarious situation with a family reunification petition, seeking a green card for the foreign-born spouse.