Hopes that foreign-born partners of gay and lesbian Americans could follow the same path to citizenship as heterosexual spouses got a boost Thursday when U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Chicago said he would fight to include such a proposal in the campaign for comprehensive immigration reform.

Six months ago, when Gutierrez first laid out plans to introduce an immigration reform bill in the U.S. House, the inclusion of same-sex partner rights seemed too politically risky. But the Democrat now says he believes the coalition in favor of immigration reform is strong enough to make the bill "truly inclusive."

"The underlying part of any comprehensive immigration bill is family unity," Gutierrez said in an interview with the Tribune. "We need to speak more clearly and more articulately and more frequently that the (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community, and same-sex couples and their binational relationships, are part of families."

The 2000 U.S. census estimated that there were more than 35,000 binational same-sex couples in the country. At this point, same-sex binational couples who want to remain together in the United States have to rely on work or student visas, or seek other legal loopholes.

"This has a terrible impact on couples," said Eric Berndt, supervising attorney for the National Asylum Partnership on Sexual Minorities at the National Immigrant Justice Center in Chicago. "It can tear apart their lives, it can tear apart their relationships and it can force them to choose between their countries and the person they love."

Kevin Goodman and Anton Pulung met more than a decade ago in a coffee shop in Orlando, Fla.

They hit it off and have been together ever since. Without the immigration benefit of marriage, Goodman and Pulung have relied on student visas and now a petition for asylum to stay together.

"You can't imagine the stress we live under daily," said Goodman, an Episcopal priest and associate dean of St. James Cathedral in Chicago. "To wake up every morning and think this could be the day that we no longer have the resources or support to be together."

Advocates have sought immigration rights for same-sex partners through legislation separate from Gutierrez's — the Uniting American Families Act, which has more than 100 sponsors in the U.S. House and more than 20 in the U.S. Senate. The congressman is now proposing that the language of that act be woven into the comprehensive immigration reform bill he and other lawmakers introduced in December.

"We need to build bridges between the LGBT community and the larger immigrant community," Gutierrez said. "In the end, the bigger the tent we build, the more successful we'll be."

The prospects for immigration reform passing Congress this year are uncertain. The Obama administration has expressed support, but many believe that Congress lacks the appetite to tackle such a controversial issue in an election year.

The Gutierrez bill, which has 97 co-sponsors, is the only comprehensive reform legislation currently on the table in Congress.

The congressman has planned a meeting with immigrant and LGBT community leaders at noon Monday at the Center on Halsted in Chicago. He will be joined by U.S. Reps. Mike Quigley of Chicago and Jared Polis of Colorado, both Democrats.

Invariably the addition of language to benefit same-sex couples will rile some who oppose extending marriage rights to gays and lesbians. But advocates say the immigration rights in question have nothing to do with marriage.

"It isn't predicated on recognition of a marriage and it doesn't give any benefits besides allowing couples to stay together," said Berndt, of the National Immigrant Justice Center.

For Josh Lampinen, a 30-year-old Chicago Web designer, a change in the law couldn't come soon enough. His fiance, Jerome Lienard, lives in France, and the couple are struggling to find a way to be together.

Lampinen and Lienard are weighing a variety of options: Lampinen could move to France with a visa that might last up to three years; they could both move to Canada or Belgium, countries same-sex couples can immigrate to; Lienard could receive a U.S. green card through the federal government's yearly "diversity lottery," an unlikely possibility.

Lampinen said the distance between them is always a strain, particularly in times of crisis. A year and a half ago, Lampinen's grandmother died, and Lienard couldn't be by his side.

"That's when you want your partner there," Lampinen said. "And he wasn't. It just wasn't possible. It's instances like that that just make it evident how unfair this situation is."

rhuppke@tribune.com