dojR001681.xml

dojR001681.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-17

Sunday, March 17, 2002 9:27 PM
September 11th Victims Fund

Attachment 1:
Brooklyn, NY

March 18, 2002

Dear President Bush:

I am writing to you as a survivor of the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. I worked in 2 World Trade Center, , at a non-profit research organization. On September 11th, I was following my normal routine, walking up Church Street from the A/C subway towards the plaza of the World Trade Center to enter 2 World Trade Center on the Mezzanine Level. I was 2 blocks away when the first plane struck 1 World Trade Center and
stood in shock with others on their way to work. While Mayor Guiliani, yourself and others were encouraging Americans to get back to a sense of normalcy, all
of us who worked in the World Trade Center, had no normalcy in our lives. I spent several weeks volunteering with the Red Cross at Respite 1 and 3 for recovery workers and everyone participating in the recovery efforts.

The Respite Centers were incredible places that offered services to everyone involved in the recovery efforts without distinguishing workers by rank, position, or
any type of difference. Everyone was treated with respect and equality. This was very important at the Respite Centers to not treat differently the National
Guard, firemen, construction and iron workers, sanitation workers, Verizon workers and all the different groups who were critical to the recovery process. In fact, many of those coming to the Respite Centers did not receive praise for their efforts in the media such as sanitation truck drivers who were working 15 hour days transporting trucks filled with wreckage and debris to Fresh Kills.

I have recently learned that same sex partners are excluded from the September 11th Victims Compensation Fund and that Mr. Kenneth Feinberg, on March
10th, stated on NBCs Meet the Press that he is not including same sex partners as eligible for compensation although all other groups are eligible. I am very
saddened by this decision to discriminate against the partners of individuals who were killed on September 11th. The September 11th Fund is not a state fund
and was created for a unique reason, to help families of those who were killed in a terrorist attack on the United States. To point to state laws that do not
acknowledge same sex partnerships is not a valid reason to deny same sex widows and widowers compensation. In fact, many companies that were located in
the World Trade Center had domestic partnership policies that did recognize same sex relationships and benefits, such as health insurance, were extended to
same sex partners. To deny same sex partners eligibility for the September 11th Fund is to state publicly that some Americans are not valued and that we do not consider all Americans to be equal.

I urge you to reconsider this policy that excludes some victims from the September 11th Fund and let all Americans know that you consider every life lost on
September 11th to be of equal value. Regardless of state laws, federal law and personal beliefs, the partners of lesbians and gays on September 11th should
not be treated differently, given that their loved ones were killed for the same reasons as their co-workers and all those who worked or were at the World
Trade Center, Pentagon and on the 4 airplanes that day, as a result of terrorism targeted at all Americans.


The World Trade Center was for thousands of workers, our second home, and in many ways an ordinary place with diversity in types of people who worked
and visited there. It will now be remembered as a place of immense horror and with great sadness. Please do not let this be a place that will be remembered
as disregarding the lives of some who worked and were killed there because the September 11th Fund currently discriminates against gays and lesbians. I hope
that you will send the message that you do not condone discriminating against victims of the September 11th terrorist attack on the United States.

Sincerely,

Individual Comment

2002-03-17