Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Sent: Monday, March 11, 2002 Please rethink your position on gay partner compensation Dear Victims Comp Administrators: You guys have a very, very difficult job. Figuring out how to dispense cash, benefits and, with it, compassion to the families of the Sept. 11 horror must be heart wrenching. I am writing to let you know that when I heard that you were planning to limit or deny aid to the life partners of gay and lesbian people who perished on that horrible day, I started to cry and haven't really been able to stop. You've managed to wrench my heart, too. How can you possibly justify this inhumane policy? Why are some lives more valuable to you than others? Why do you turn your back on some loved ones and dispense well-deserved compensation to others? The answers that suggest themselves to me are two: the difficulty in figuring out what, exactly, constitutes domestic partnership, and just plain bigotry. Surely at this point in the history of this country there is ample precendent for determining criteria for a life-partner. Some of the generally accepted measures include such things as shared real estate, bank accounts, registration of the relationship with legal entities. Others use a criteria of the couple having lived together six months or more. These criteria have been hashed out in the halls of governments all over this country. They have also been debated in corporate boardrooms. City and state governments recognize the truth of these relationships through legislation. Companies, of which there are many Fortune 500 companies, including the airlines that employed the gay co-pilot, also recognize these relationships by offering domestic partner benefits. What misunderstanding prevents you from exercising the same judgement? Is it possible that you just don't believe gay and lesbian people are worthy of your compassion? Are we somehow less human to you? Do you imagine that we don't bleed with the loss of the partners with whom we have fashioned our dreams for the future? I sincerely hope you change your mind. There can be no cost-benefit equations when it comes to grief and justice. How can you live with yourself if you turn your back on so many of us? How can you compound the grief of those who are already suffering by pretending their grief matters less and still think of yourselves as moral beings? Thank you for considering my views, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-11 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojR000120.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2002-03-11