dojA000793.xml

dojA000793.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2001-12-05

Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2001 11:13 AM
Subject: Victim Compensation for Gay Families

The outpouring of donations after September 11 was heartwarming. It felt like the country was pulling together to heal. Terrorism can only take place when one person or group views another person or group as less significant than the ideology that rules the terrorist's groups beliefs. It was seeming for a brief time that terrorism by any group was going to be addressed and condemned. Now I am not sure.

The concept of "Family" is now being defined and my concern is that many families that don't fall into the restricted concept of the Judeo-Christian family will be left out of the mix. It would be a sad mistake to define family by what it is not, instead of what it is. To use the "traditional heterosexual family" as the absolute and Gay headed families as the antithesis would deprive and marginalize the essence of "Family" being a supported collection of individuals that share a common bond emotionally and financially out of love and survival.

We live in a country that has denied, and later marginalized same gender love; a love that has been with us all through history. In fact its history is long and impressive. To be singled out and hated at worst, and shunned is a form of terrorism also. Gay people are singled out for political discrimination, singled out for execution, and singled out for verbal abuse. It would be a crime if the government would continue with this practice.

The biggest push behind the hatred of same sex love is from the religious right. Their basis for this campaign stems from the same fear of difference as that of other fundamentalist religious or political groups. How can we condemn a situation in the Middle East and condone it here in our country.

Please break this long held prejudice and acknowledge the needs of all victims of this awful terrorist attack.

2001-12-05