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. Monday, March 11, 2002 12:37 PM Discrimination against gays under the 9/11 fund I am writing to express my shock, sadness and anger over the fact that gay Americans will not be compensated for the loss of their loved ones in the 9/11 attacks at the same level as any other person. This discrimination simply must stop. I am the mother of a gay child, aged 16. He came out to his father and me when he was 14. It came as no shock to us: from the time he was 5 years old, we suspected that our son was gay. It was, and is, clear to me that sexual orientation is something over which a person has no choice, that one is born gay. Our son¹s sexual orientation has made absolutely no difference to us: it is just simply who he is. He is also a great human being ? sensitive, funny, and gifted with an impressive intellect. He has been an honor student throughout his academic career, has received numerous awards, and is at present taking courses at a local college, even though he is still a junior in high school. He has never been in trouble, never smoked a cigarette, never taken drugs. In short, my son is every mother¹s dream. And ? not but, ³And² -- his ³high school sweetheart² is a boy. He is dating a wonderful young man, whom we love dearly. They have attended proms and formals together, they buy each other presents on birthdays and anniversaries, they are a source of joy and comfort to one another. In short, my son is wonderful boy, completely average in some respects and above average in others. The only thing that sets him apart in the universe is that he was born gay. What is it about that which would allow you to discriminate against him, or any other gay person, so cruelly and unjustly? I appreciate the fact that for some people, their religious convictions do not allow them to see my son as ³normal.² But this is America. Our Constitution guarantees us the right to believe as we see fit, to say what we have to say, to be whoever we are, so long as we are not harming other people or violating their rights. The people who flew planes into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon are enemies to those values. They want to make over the world to fit their image of what is the ³right² way to be. By discriminating against gays, you are not only turning your back on the Constitution, you are essentially agreeing with the terrorists by affirming that there is only one right and appropriate way to be. You should be ashamed of yourselves. To say that the fund must follow state rules is the coward¹s way out, since you are merely saying that, if a state discriminates against gays, then you will too. All I can say is, thank God wasn¹t such a coward. Thank God was not such a coward when he bent down to give a dying fire fighter the last rites. If you want to truly remember those heroes, then you will do it by showing a little backbone yourself. You will do the right thing and provide the partners of the gay and lesbian victims of the 9/11 attacks what is due to them as American citizens, heroes, and patriots. Individual Comment North Easton, MA 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 dojR000048.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