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. HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN November 13, 2001 The Honorable John Ashcroft Attorney General Department of Justice Tenth Street and Constitution Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20530 Dear Attorney General Ashcroft: We write to express our support for your department's early efforts to solicit public comments as you begin the process of promulgating regulations to implement the September 11th Victim's Compensation Fund. We acknowledge the difficulties you are facing in your efforts to move quickly and comprehensively to ensure that the victims of this tragedy receive much-needed assistance as soon as possible. We will be submitting formal comments in due course, but write today to express our hope that these regulations--when drafted--ensure that the September 11th Victim's Compensation Fund will provide equitable compensation to all victims of this tragedy without regard to their sexual orientation. As we mourn every life lost in the tragic events of September 11th, we note we have lost members of our own community as well. A number of gay people, including members of the Human Rights Campagin, perished in these terrible tragedies. They include an &nbsp&nbsp&nbsp&nbsp on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon, who left behind his life partner of 14 years; a nurse from New Hampshire on her way to a west coast business meeting who left behind her logtime partner; and a civilian Department of Defense employee stationed at the Pentagon who is survived by her life partner of 18 years. As you know, for an individual who was killed in the September 11th attacks, the statute, PL 107-42, provides for compensation claims to be made by "the personal respresentative" of the decedent. We write to share two broad-based concerns that we have with the statute as drafted. First, the statute does not make clear that domestic partners in same-sex relationships or non-biological children are eligible to receive compensation from the Fund. We strongly support the inclusion of language in the regulations that would allow a personal representative to seek compensation for any relative who relied on the decedent for support. And second, we are concerned that the statute does not clearly state that it is the duty of the personal representative to distribute the compensation awarded to family members and relatives in proportion to their losses. To achieve the state purpose of this Fund - "to provide compensation to any individual (or relatives of a deceased individual)" - it is critical that these regulations reflect the reality of relationships and families in today's society. We know that you share our concerns and look forward to working together in an effort to achieve this goal. Doing so would complement what other signitifant private relief efforts, including the American Red Cross and the Sallie Mae 911 Education Fund, have already done by recognizing domestic partners of victims when disbursing survivor benefits. We want to thank you again for seeking public comment and input at this early stage of the regulation-writing process. We look forward to submitting formal comments by late November and to working with you to ensure that the Victim's Compensation Fund provides equitable compensation to all victims of this tragedy without regard to their sexual orientation. Sincerely, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-11-13 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 dojW000781.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. 2001-11-13