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. Monday, March 18, 2002 12:42 PM Discrimination in Compensation Funding The passing of the buck to individual states in the matter of denying compensation to same-sex longtime companions and survivors of gays/lesbians who died in the attacks on 9/11 is nearly as unAmerican as the attacks themselves. That states may individually uphold discriminatory policies {or legislate new ones to get around policies determined on a national level that just don't "agree with community standards", to wit: the editing of hate-crimes legislation in over ten states to remove the categories of sexual orientation} is something we have to live with. But to take the position that the decedent's 'state of origin' shall decide if survivors and significant others are not entitled when on a national level violations of immigration laws are being winked at is offensive. Gays and lesbians died in the attacks, too. Or lost loved ones. In the days following 9/11, gay dollars doubtless swelled donations for this fund and others. The redemptive aspect of the horror of 9/11 is that for a time, people came together in unity and put aside barriers -- people reached out to one another openly and with great generosity of spirit. To potentially deny the same compensation to gays and lesbians [who certainly number amongst the dead of 9/11 -- and among its list of heroes] is certainly an affront. Certainly to the loved ones of &nbsp -- &nbsp of US AIR flight 77, &nbsp -- &nbsp who died while administering the sacraments to NYFD firefighters at Ground Zero, and &nbsp -- one of the heroes of Flight 93. Our gay and lesbian tax dollars are certainly acceptable enough to the country as a source of income, but we consistently are ineligible for the very things taxes are levied to achieve. I realize that the 9/11 fund is not a tax issue, but the principle obtains. To publicly acknowledge the grief of survivors is a tremendous and admirable thing. To publicly acknowledge the grief of some -- and to bend the law in the case of illegal aliens so they too will be compensated -- with monies from the Fund becomes a little suspect. To publicly declare invalid the grief and loss of gays and lesbians -- unworthy of participation in the 9/11 Fund compensations because most states in the country don't consider their relationships real or valid -- this is shameful. Though the distinction would probably be applauded by the Taliban. Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-18 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 dojR001898.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. 2002-03-18