According to a report by 365Gay.com, Eric Affholter, the former head of the St. Louis office of the Missouri public defender’s office, plead guilty last week to federal charges of arranging a sham marriage to keep his partner in the country.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales charged Affholter and his partner, Pedro Cerna-Rojas, a native of Peru, with conspiracy to commit marriage fraud.

Affholter told the court he recruited a woman who worked in his office to marry Cerna-Rojas. A prosecutor in the St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s office witnessed the marriage. Both have resigned their posts.

Cerna-Rojas’ United States visitor’s visa expired in 2004. At that point, Cerna-Rojas was mandated to return to Peru.

Federal law allows a foreign national ways to remain here permanently. One can claim asylum, or may petition against removal on the grounds that returning would result in government persecution. One can even file for relief through an international treaty the United States abides by, known as the Convention Against Torture (CAT).

If a person can prove that persecution existed and will continue in the home country, he or she is eligible to remain in the United States. Federal immigration judges have been particularly sensitive to such claims and have granted relief in many cases.

Affholter and Cerna-Rojas, however, did not apply for asylum. Instead, Affholter convinced a woman in his office to marry Cerna-Rojas on Dec. 10, 2004 in Las Vegas.

But U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said the marriage was never consummated and that Cerna-Rojas had returned to living with Affholter.

If Affholter had been heterosexual, he would have been able to take advantage of a federal law that allows foreign nationals who marry citizens to obtain permanent residence. But current federal law does not recognize same-sex unions, nor does it allow for sponsorship of a same-sex partner. That’s not going to change even if a state like California recognizes same-sex marriages.

Pending legislation known as the Uniting Americans Family Act would allow American citizens to bring their foreign national partners into the country, whether they are straight or same-sex.

The measure has been opposed by Republicans in Congress but in a questionnaire to Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Joe Biden, John Edwards, Bill Richardson and Dennis Kucinich all said they would support the amendment.

Affholter is one of few who have been prosecuted for arranging sham marriages to keep same-sex partners in the country. There are no cases in which the I.R.S. or any other federal agency, has pursued “sham” marriage charges against straight people. Nor has there yet been a case in which the federal government has questioned a marriage consisting of a transgender person. California and New York allow transgender persons to marry a person of the same gender.

The Affholter case is exactly the kind of case that should go to the Supreme Court and prompt the Court to strike federal laws that distinguish between same-sex and opposite sex couples.

Affholter obviously belived he had to circumvent the law to keep his mate in the country. But we shouldn’t have to resort to such ploys.