dojR000616.xml

dojR000616.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-13

Wednesday, March 13, 2002 1:51 PM
Exclusion of Gays from Benefits


Dear Mr. Feinberg:

I am disgusted that you have effectively excluded the survivors of gay and
lesbian Americans who died on 9/11 from receiving benefits due them from the
9/11 Compensation Fund.

It is completely unacceptable for you to defer to state law on this issue.
This is not a state issue. It is a federal issue. You are fully aware that
only two states have laws that recognize gay partnerships. Your deferral to
state law is clearly nothing more than a thin fabrication to avoid
responsibility for your morally sadistic decision to dishonor the survivors
of gay men and women.

Your decision brings to mind too clearly the decision of some of the
commanders of the allied troops which liberated the concentration camps
after the Nazi collapse. They ordered that gay concentration camp victims
be held in the camps - among the smoldering and rotting dead - because under
German law their homosexuality made them common criminals. That decision
was fairly quickly reversed, and I hope you will soon reverse yours.

Yours Sincerely

Individual Comment
San Diego CA

2002-03-13