dojR002595.xml

dojR002595.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-21

Thursday, March 21, 2002 11:59 PM
9/11 Fund exc;usion of gays


To: Kenneth L. Zwink, Director Office of Management Programs



Dear Sir:

I'm stunned by comments made by September 11 victims' compensation fund Special Master Kenneth Feinberg, most particularly his decision to yield to state probate laws when considering the cases of same-sex surviving partners. As I'm sure you're aware, fully 48 states disregard domestic partners in such matters (Vermont and New Hampshire being the only exceptions).

Meanwhile, mechanisms are in place to assure that survivirs of illegal aliens can come forward for consideration without fear of deportation and negotiaitions are planned assuring that their employers will not be penalized. With such latitude extended to Special Master Feinberg, it's astounding that some provision can't be made for gay and lesbian survivors of the September 11 attacks, particularly since fewer than 30 such persons have made inquiry.

Further exacerbating the situation is an ammendment in the final rules stipulating that collateral source compensation (such as life insurance and pension benefits) will not be counted against the amount that is recoverable if the beneficiciary of these collateral funds is not a beneficiary under the federal fund. This gives biological family members additional incentive to exclude same-sex partners from applying as part of the family unit. This under the aegis of the president who campaigned as "a uniter, not a divider"!

I share in the shock, horror and outrage common to all Americans contextual to the events of September 11. However, there are three additional traumas at work in my case. I ask your indulgence as I share them with you.

First, as a native Washingtonian, I often feel my city's role in this national tragedy has been generally minimized by the press. While it's true that the sheer numbers of victims at the the Pentagon are dwarfed by the statistics relative to the World Trade Center, the loss sustained by their loved ones was no less real.

Now consider for a moment how different our lives would be had (an openly gay man) not been aboard United Flight 93 that fateful day. Without his presence, the plane would likely have collided with its intended target, the U.S. Capitol building.

Connecticut is currently reeling from the loss of a congressional seat, the result of population shifts refected in the 2000 census. Think of the implication of the loss not of a seat but of entire congressional delegations in the flesh.

Reflect also on the psychological scars that would have been inflicted by such a loss. No other structure on earth more clearly embodies America's ideals and the aspirations of the constitution's framers than does that edifice.

Think of it; that building houses two elected deliberative bodies, balancing nationally the concerns of the many (the house, where each state's representations is reflected on the basis of population) and the Senate (where California holds no more sway than does Wyoming). Parallel this with the societal struggle of the few (the gay community) against the concerns of the many (our heterosexual counterparts).

Is it any wonder that I often look to the heavens and thank God and for his quick, decisive action in the face of the most terrifying of circumstances.

Secondly, I'm a cousin descendant of civil war hero Major General Henry Warner Slocum, commanding officer of the XX corps of the Army of the Potomac and aide-de-camp to General Sherman in his March to the Sea.

Slocum distinguished himself at Gettysburg by leading the right flank of the Union forces in its successful defense of Culp's Hill against numerous Confederate advances.

Anytime I'm back home, I go to the Lincoln Memorial; while ther, I weep uncontrolably as I read the immortal words of the Great Emancipator in the form of the Gettysburg Address, inscribed on a tablet of stone adorning that shrine to national unity. I cry because I've stood in the midst of the cemetery of that hallowed ground and because of my personal connections to that space I feel perhaps more keenly than most the cost in human lives our freedom somtimes requires.

During Sherman's regretable March to the Sea, Slocum's troops stood virtually alone in not participating in the wholesale looting and demolition which typified that campaign. Indeed, his jounals are rife with entries describing the flood of newly-freed slaves as well as rank and file citizens who scurried behind Union lines, seeking refuge anf safe harbor, which they invariably received.

(and an openly gay man) exemplified even more this ethic of rendering help to those in need. In the end, he sacrificed his mortal existence in that pursuit. I ask you sir; is the offering of his "last full measure of devation" any less worthy because he was gay?

Thirdly, as an openly gay man (specifically one who experienced first-hand the living nightmare that is Hartford Probate Court relative to the death of my lover) my heart aches for the survivors of the fatalities in these attacks.

Nine months into my probate horror, I departed Connecticut and relocated to Dutches County, New York. It was literally easier to leave the state than to continue to deal with Hartford Probate Court!

I empore you, sir, to make certain that contextual to those surviving loved ones, that the legacies of those who died (legagies sustained most vividly in the lives of those loved ones to whom they were closest) "taht these dead shall not have died in vain". additionally, please do all in your power to assure that while setting about "to bind up the nation's wounds" that such healing be extended fairly and equitably to all people.

Sincerly,


Individual Comment

2002-03-21