Kristina Zverjako of Cronkite News Service talks with former congressman Jim Kolbe about the difficulty that bi-national gay and lesbian couples face in gaining legal status as the the U.S. Senate tackles immigration reform. Both Jeff Flake and John McCain, who are among the Republicans shepherding the latest reform package through Washington, are putting LGBT concerns on the back burner.

Here's McCain, via the Washington Post:

But congressional Republicans immediately condemned the idea and warned that the measure imperils broader immigration reform. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), one of the senators on the eight-member bipartisan working group on immigration, said at a Politico breakfast last week that injecting social issues into the debate over immigration legislation “is the best way to derail it.”

“Which is more important: LGBT or border security?” McCain said, using an abbreviation for people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. “I’ll tell you what my priorities are.”