dojN000885.xml

dojN000885.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-12-24

Monday, December 24, 2001 11:23 PM
gay and lesbian families

Dear Mr. Kenneth Feinberg,

I am writing to urge you to see to the equitable distribution of the victim's compensation fund. This inludes the families of gay and lesbian victims and those children and families of low-wage earners. These margainilized groups must surely need our generosity most of all, and I would ask you to do all you can to make it possible.

The specific challenges of being a gay or lesbian family in a world where marriage is not an option often include the constant act of trying to prove that the relationship is valid. To have to justify your very existence in the face of such trauma seems too much to expect of such vulnerable souls. It is encouraging that the Red Cross and the State of New York have already pledged not to discriminate against these families. The Department of Justice should do the same.

The issue of wage-based compensation seems much simpler. This fund should at best offer equal compensation based on the equal life of a human being. The only possible alternative is that those people least equipped to weather the loss of a wage earner would be compensated in reverse proportion to the wage earned. I can think of no version in which the victims in the upper income brackets would get a larger share of the fund than those low-income workers who also lost their lives. Please look at the larger picture here and not try and compensate on a dollar for dollar basis -- need must play a part.

Thank you for letting me share my thoughts with you. I look forward to hearing your decisions.

Sincerely,

Individual Comment
Seattle, WA

2001-12-24