dojR002422.xml

dojR002422.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-20

Wednesday, March 20, 2002 7:20 PM
Victim Compensation Fund

March 20, 2002

Special Master Kenneth R. Feinberg
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
US Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20530

Mr. Feinberg,

While I by no means consider myself to be an "activist," I feel I must take
issue with comments made by you on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, March 10,
2002. The comments I make reference to are those directed at Gay and Lesbian
AMERICANS whose partners perished in that terrible, unforgivable act of
terrorism on September 11, 2001.

During the aforementioned interview, you indicated that surviving partners
will not necessarily be eligible for the same compensation as heterosexual
family members who lost their loved ones. Your rationale behind this position
seemed to be that you were simply following guidelines set forth by
individual states as to how they addressed "domestic partnerships."

As I understand it, and please, by all means correct me if I am wrong,
surviving family members of ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS will be fully compensated, but
because you have to bow to the will of "state laws," widowed gay partners and
their surviving children will not be afforded the same consideration.

So let me get this STRAIGHT. (every pun intended) This country, this land
that I love, the home of the free and the brave, where all men are created
equal, the country to which I pledge my allegiance, gives more consideration
to an illegal immigrants surviving family members than it does to the
surviving partners and children of gay men and women who perished??

Pray tell, how is that a gay man or woman's life can be considered to be of
lessor value than that of someone who is in the country ILLEGALLY? If you
want to follow "laws" when deciding who is entitled to what compensation,
then why don't you start by following FEDERAL LAW?

You sir, with all due respect, are a hateful, bigoted idiot.

Let me assure you of this. The gay men and women who died that day paid their
taxes, and their blood was just as red as all the other victims. And to this
day, their survivors hurt just as badly as all the other survivors of love
ones lost. But now, thanks to you and your bigotry, they hurt much worse.

I suppose this is just another fine example of George "dubya" Bush's idea of
"compassionate conservatism."

Thank you for you time and further consideration in this matter.

Individual Comment
Bumpass, Virginia
Gay Taxpaying AMERICAN

2002-03-20