dojR000049.xml

dojR000049.xml

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2002-03-11

Monday, March 11, 2002 12:37 PM
9/11 Fund: please don't discriminate!


I hear that the 9/11 Fund, contrary to what was previously stated, plans to
discriminate against the partners of gays and lesbians that died 6 months ago
in that horrible tragedy. I think this is terrible!

In an appearance on the Sunday, March 10 broadcast of NBC's
"Meet the Press," Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the September
11th Victim Compensation Fund, said that gay partners of
the heroes of September 11th will not necessarily be eligible
for the same compensation as heterosexual family members who
lost their loved ones.

According to Feinberg, lots and lots of people will receive
compensation under the plan, including children, babies, and
even fetuses. And as an indication of how generous the fund
will be, even illegal aliens, who aren't American citizens
and who are in the US in violation of federal law, will
receive benefits. Feinberg even says that the Attorney
General has promised that if undocumented aliens come
forward, they won't be kicked out of the country, and their
employers won't be penalized. "The attorney general, in
consultation with Immigration, etc., undocumented aliens who
come forward, the families will not suffer any consequences.
They are covered by this program. They will get a check. The
employer, where we need the economic information about the
undocumented alien, will not be penalized," Feinberg told
"Meet the Press."

As is only right!
But when it comes to gay Americans who lost a loved one in this national
tragedy, suddenly there is an about face:

"[Gays and lesbians are] left out of my program to the extent
that their own state doesn't include them. I cannot get into
a position in this program, which has a one-and-a-half or
two-year life start second-guessing what the state of New
York or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the state of
Virginia or New Jersey, how they treat same-sex partners,
domestic live-ins, etc. I simply say this: What does your
state law say about who is eligible? If your state law makes
you eligible, I will honor state law. If it doesn't, I go
with the state. Otherwise, , I would find myself getting
sued in every state by people claiming that I'm not following
how the state distributes money. I can't get into that local
battle. I've got to rely on state law." - Kenneth Feinberg on
NBC's "Meet the Press," March 10, 2002.

That's a long-winded way of saying that if state law
discriminates against gay people, then so will Feinberg and
the 911 Fund. The problem for gay Americans who lost loved
ones on September 11 is that most states do not legally
recognize gay relationships, and the very few that do tend to
do so only for state employees, not for citizens at large.
And while a handful of cities do in fact recognize such
relationships, under Feinberg's formula, it's the state's law
that counts, not the city's.

So, in the end, pretty much everyone who died - including
people who aren't even American citizens and were living in
the US illegally - will be honored by the September 11th Fund
as deserving of America's special recognition and thanks.
The sole exception will be gay and lesbian Americans.

On this six-month anniversary of the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon, Kenneth Feinberg and the
September 11th Fund are telling the American people that
regardless of whether a gay man was one of the four heroes on
United Flight 93 who saved the US Congress and the White
House from utter annihilation, the 911 Fund plans to
discriminate against an American hero because most of the
country sanctioned such discrimination prior to September 11.

If September 11 has taught us anything, it's that our
patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and
unite us all. It would be ironic if the generosity of so
many Americans in giving to the September 11th Fund were used
to further divide us as a people, and send the message to all
that some American heroes are more equal than others.

I leave you with these words of Senator John McCain.

"I never knew . But I wish I had. I know he was a
good son and friend, a good rugby player, a good American,
and an extraordinary human being. He supported me, and his
support now ranks among the greatest honors of my life. I
wish I had known before September 11 just how great an honor
his trust in me was. I wish I could have thanked him for it
more profusely than time and circumstances allowed. But I
know it now. And I thank him with the only means I possess,
by being as good an American as he was.

"America will overcome these atrocities. We will prevail over
our enemies. We will right this terrible injustice. And when
we do, let us claim it as a tribute to our liberty, and to
and all those who died to defend it."

- Senator John McCain, Eulogy for , September 22,
2001.
please right this wrong!

Brooklyn NY - where i watched the Towers burn from the bottom of my street

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2002-03-11