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. Wednesday, March 13, 2002 1:13 PM the deep disgrace of the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund Mr. President: I am writing to voice my concern over the exclusion of same-sex partners from the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund. This horrible tragedy was unprecedented and affected people from all walks of American society. All the affected deserve our help. Few things in my life have angered and saddened me as much as the events of September 11th, but your administration's decision to compound the pain of those who have lost loved ones in the terrorist attacks by failing to provide them their just portion of the Victims' Compensation Fund has just re-opened that wound and driven my anger to new heights. I am a Republican, a deeply patriotic American, a committed free marketeer and a New Yorker who was downtown on September 11th, who lost colleagues in the attacks and whose apartment was filled for months with the smoke from Ground Zero. I fully expect to die an early death from lung cancer due to all the contaminants I have breathed in since September 11th. I am also proud to say I include among my friends and family a range of wonderful people who happen to be homosexual. The very IDEA that Kenneth Feinberg (Head of the 9/11 Victims' Compensation Fund) can go on TV and tell me that ILLEGAL ALIENS are going to be given taxpayer dollars for being in the wrong place at the right time, and in the same breath tell me that homosexuals (including , one of the heroes that brought down Flight 93 to prevent its crashing into the US Congress) are less-than-human in your administration's eyes is appalling. Your administration has recognized that a compassionate and effective response will entail making certain exceptions to general U.S.policy on eligibility for public benefits, such as making compensation available to undocumented aliens (and protecting their employers from prosecution should such individuals come forward). Please make sure that ALL affected families and households receive the assistance they need to cope with this terrorist attack, whether the household was counting on the income of a brother or sister, an opposite-sex but unmarried partner, a same-sex partner, or a friend. Fair rules can be devised for assisting all families and households who were directly affected by this terrorist attack. Please don't use this as an opportunity to cut out or further marginalize people whose loss and grief is no less real because they are not heterosexual. I have every confidence that you will make sure the right thing is done in this matter, Mr. President. These are difficult times in this country, and the last thing we need right now is for our President (and policy) to be influenced by a pack of disgusting bigots hell-bent on denying homosexual Americans their fair and unbiased share of all America has to offer. Sincerely, Individual Comment Brooklyn Heights, New York September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-13 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 dojR000619.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. 2002-03-13