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 9:50 PM exclusion of gays from 9/11 fund is wrong To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to express my disappointment and disbelief that gay and lesbian partners of those killed in the 9/11 attacks will not be receiving the same benefits as their heterosexual counterparts. It is an outrage that the administrators of the 9/11 Fund have chosen to perpetrate such discrimination. Discrimination against lesbians and gays is wrong under any circumstances, but is made all the more aggregious by the hypocricy here: as Americans put aside differences to unite around American ideals of freedom, justice, democracy, and equality, government administrators deny benefits to the grieving partners of some of the dead on the basis of those differences. This is a wrong and unjust policy. The 9/11 terrorists did not discriminate among the passengers and workers in the planes and buildings who were killed in the attacks, nor should the 9/11 Fund discriminate in its distribution of benefits to those whose loved ones were murdered. I am aware that legalities are being consciously overlooked to provide benefits to the families of illegal immigrants and even to fetuses (which to my knowledge do not enjoy the rights of personhood under the law). The decision to grant benefits to the families of illegal immigrants is just, as all victims' families deserve compensation. While certain legal sticking points are being cited to justify the denial of benefits to gay and lesbian partners, the extension of benefits to the families of illegal workers undercuts this argument. Full benefits must be extended to the gay and lesbian partners of those Americans killed in the terrorist events of September 11th. To deny these Americans the same rights, privleges, and benefits extended to other Americans (and in fact other non-citizens) undermines the most basic American principles of equality under the law. Worse yet, to make these biased and discriminatory distinctions among Americans now creates precisely the kind of division which weakens our country against its fundamentalist attackers. Divided from within, we will easily fall. As fractious a nation as we are, we unite not around a motherland or a shared lifestyle or a common racial identity or a single religion, but around the ideals of freedom, justice, democracy, and equality under the law. These ideals must be upheld now, or we ourselves continue the work of our attackers. By perpetrating discrimination and economic violence against our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters, we further undermine our strength, our spirit, and our righteousness as a nation. Yours for the cause of peace and brotherhood, 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 dojR001814.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