dojR000965.xml
Title
dojR000965.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
email
Date Entered
2002-03-16
September 11 Email: Body
Saturday, March 16, 2002 2:20 PM
Equal treatment of PROVEN domestic partners.
We have recently heard that survivors of gay domestic partnerships will not be compensated in the same manner as other survivors.
We must admit that we had grave reservations about the entire subject when we first heard of it - after all, other than employment and/or private insurance benefits, members of the armed services, others killed in similar circumstances, etc. do not receive special benefits paid for by the taxpayers. However, because we realized that if compensation were left to the insurance companies, and/or the airlines, they'd be put out of business automatically, causing grave financial consequences - AND, when we realized that there would be many folks who'd been put into untenable financial situations by the loss of their breadwinner, we agreed that it was fair and proper to create a taxpayer fund for the survivors - NOT because money can replace a loved one, but because money can make their future lives easier.
However, as gay persons (with 49 years of faithful committment under our belts,) we are outraged to hear that survivors of gay partnerships (people who ARE NOT PERMITTED TO MARRY,) would be thrown to the whim of state law - thereby not ensuring that they'd be equally compensated - or compensated AT ALL.
We remind you that gay tax revenues are being used for the fund; that there are gay family units which have been equally disrupted by the 9/11 tragedy (1/2 of the mortgage payment gone, 1/2 of the rent payment gone, 1/2 of financial obligation payment gone, etc.,) and that as much as we approve of the scheme to indemnify the heterosexual survivors, we strongly protest anything other than equal treatment for homosexual survivors! Please do not fall upon the old saw that it is a state matter. THESE ARE FEDERAL FUNDS, IN A FEDERAL PROGRAM! And, please don't use the lame excuse that it is a state matter. If we didn't learn from the 50s that the federal government has the power and the obligation to force states to treat ALL citizens equally (soldiers in Arkansas, FBI in Alabama, etc.) then we've learned nothing.
We implore you to right a wrong which is about to be perpetrated upon a viable, important segment of US society. Amend the guidelines to include provable gay and lesbian domestic partnerships in the compensation fund.
Individual Comment
Equal treatment of PROVEN domestic partners.
We have recently heard that survivors of gay domestic partnerships will not be compensated in the same manner as other survivors.
We must admit that we had grave reservations about the entire subject when we first heard of it - after all, other than employment and/or private insurance benefits, members of the armed services, others killed in similar circumstances, etc. do not receive special benefits paid for by the taxpayers. However, because we realized that if compensation were left to the insurance companies, and/or the airlines, they'd be put out of business automatically, causing grave financial consequences - AND, when we realized that there would be many folks who'd been put into untenable financial situations by the loss of their breadwinner, we agreed that it was fair and proper to create a taxpayer fund for the survivors - NOT because money can replace a loved one, but because money can make their future lives easier.
However, as gay persons (with 49 years of faithful committment under our belts,) we are outraged to hear that survivors of gay partnerships (people who ARE NOT PERMITTED TO MARRY,) would be thrown to the whim of state law - thereby not ensuring that they'd be equally compensated - or compensated AT ALL.
We remind you that gay tax revenues are being used for the fund; that there are gay family units which have been equally disrupted by the 9/11 tragedy (1/2 of the mortgage payment gone, 1/2 of the rent payment gone, 1/2 of financial obligation payment gone, etc.,) and that as much as we approve of the scheme to indemnify the heterosexual survivors, we strongly protest anything other than equal treatment for homosexual survivors! Please do not fall upon the old saw that it is a state matter. THESE ARE FEDERAL FUNDS, IN A FEDERAL PROGRAM! And, please don't use the lame excuse that it is a state matter. If we didn't learn from the 50s that the federal government has the power and the obligation to force states to treat ALL citizens equally (soldiers in Arkansas, FBI in Alabama, etc.) then we've learned nothing.
We implore you to right a wrong which is about to be perpetrated upon a viable, important segment of US society. Amend the guidelines to include provable gay and lesbian domestic partnerships in the compensation fund.
Individual Comment
September 11 Email: Date
2002-03-16
Collection
Citation
“dojR000965.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed September 22, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/32510.