dojR002196.xml

dojR002196.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-19

Tuesday, March 19, 2002 1:33 PM
Discrimination is un-American


I am outraged that gay and lesbian partners of those
who died on September 11 are not automatically going to
receive the same benefits as heterosexual spouses.

In recent interviews, the head of the September 11 Victim
Compensation Fund (a fund created by Congress to help the
families of those who died on September 11) has made clear
that the partners of gay and lesbian heroes of September 11
will not necessarily receive the same benefits as the spouses
of heterosexual victims of the horrible terror attacks.

Even fetuses and illegal aliens will be receiving benefits
under this problem - heck, they've even promised to overlook
federal law and NOT arrest and kick out the families of
illegal aliens, nor will they punish American companies that
hired illegals in violation of federal labor laws.

But when it comes to gay and lesbian heroes of the day - &nbsp who helped bring down the flight in Pennsylvania, &nbsp who died in the line of
duty when the first tower fell, and &nbsp who was
&nbsp of the plane that crashed into the &nbsp (there
are many more) - we are told the law is the law and no
exceptions can be made.

[Read this article for complete details about how the Fund is
discriminating against gays:
http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa031102a.htm ]

If September 11 has taught us anything, it's that our
patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and
unite us all. We were told that September 11 was the day
that "hyphenated-Americans" were no more, and rather than
being Italian-Americans, African-Americans or gay-Americans,
we were now simply Americans, all of us together as one
American family. Apparently, that family just got a divorce.

The hyphens seem not to matter when our government wants to
use our heroism to inspire others, but when it comes time to
actually aid the families of those heroes, the hyphens come
back with a vengeance, and it seems that some American heroes
are now more equal than others.






Individual Comment

2002-03-19