dojR002736.xml

dojR002736.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-21

Kenneth L. Zwick
Director
Office of Management Programs
Civil Division
U.S. Department of Justice
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, DC 20530
Fax: 301-519-5956

March 21, 2002

Dear Sir,

If September 11th has taught us anything, it's that our patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and unite us all. We were told that September 11 was the day that "hyphenated-Americans" were no more; rather being Italian-Americans, African-Americans or gay-Americans, we were now simply Americans, all of us together as one American family.

It is with this in mind that I ask you to extend equal benefits to same-sex partners and families of September 11th victims as opposite-sex partners and families. You have offered benefits to the families of illegal, undocumented workers. I think that this is right and I commend you for it. I also feel that you should go one step further, and extend the same compassionate hand to same-sex partners and families.

The hyphens seem not to matter when our government wants to use heroism to inspire others, but when it comes time to actually aid the families of those heroes, the hyphens come back with a vengeance, and it seems that some American heroes are now more equal than others. I hope that the Victim Compensation Fund will do the right thing and attempt to eliminate some of those hyphens.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Individual Comment
Arlington, MA

2002-03-21