dojR002830.xml

dojR002830.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-30

Saturday, March 30, 2002 5:07 PM
A second tragedy

Dear Mr. Feinberg:

The exclusion of gay & lesbian partners of victims of 9/11 from the compensation fund is nothing short of the worst kind of discrimination. These people have already suffered the enormous loss of their loved ones. Now, they suffer doubly by having their relationships deemed unworthy by the very society in which they lived and in which their partners unwittingly died. Every single person who perished in this horrible attack--regardless of the texture, shape, or size of his or her part in the great American mosaic--deserves to be honored in the fullest possible way. This includes honor and respect for the ones they left behind, the ones with whom they chose to lead their lives, the ones who will remember and mourn for them long after their names have faded from your and my memories.

I have studied your recent comments about the Fund and find your argumentation as to why you must discriminate morally and intellectually indefensible.

You avoid responsibility for discriminating by citing the need to respect each individual state's laws on domestic partnerships and gay and lesbian partnerships. However, in the next breath you take great pains to stress that the laws governing illegal aliens will be waived in order to accomodate the moral duty to compensate the surviving victims of this tragedy. Why are federal laws regarding residency, naturalization, immigration, and taxation subject to flexible interpretation given the extraordinary circumstances of 9/11 but not laws regarding domestic partnerships? It is obvious to anyone who cares to pause and thoughtfully reflect on your words that you are electing to follow the the narrowest interpretation of the when it suits your purpose to disenfranchise one particular group of victims - gay and lesbian victims.

I urge you to use courage and compassion to do the right thing and provide the same support to all the gay and lesbian victims and surviving partners of this tragedy as you do to the others sufferers.

Sincerely,

Individual Comment
New York, NY

2002-03-30