dojR001399.xml

dojR001399.xml

born-digital

email

yes

no

2002-03-17

Sunday, March 17, 2002 11:55 AM
September 11th Fund benefits


I am very concerned that gay and lesbian partners of those who died on
September 11 are not automatically going to receive the same benefits as
heterosexual spouses.

FOR THE MEMORY OF ,
and so many more... Don't let their deaths be in vain.

I could not beleave what I read in the "Meet the Press" transcripts as
it applied to the 911 Fund. According to the excerpt below if state law
discriminates against gay people, then so will Feinberg and the 911
Fund. The problem for gay Americans who lost loved ones on September 11
is that most states do not legally recognize gay relationships, and the
very few that do tend to do so only for state employees, not for
citizens at large. And while a handful of cities do in fact recognize
such relationships, under Feinberg's formula, it's the state's law that
counts, not the city's.

What is the purpose of the Fund? If it is to help in its on small way
to rectify such a national tragidy as it effected loved ones and
families, then why are specific loved ones and families being leftout?
The gay people that have been robbed by this tragidy are so small in
number compared to all others that are not being discriminated against.
Why cause such a hurt to these people when it would only take so little
to help them.

Please reconsided the statement made by Kenneth Feinberg on NBC's "Meet
the Press," March 10, 2002 and make this thing right for all people --
not just the ones that are socially exceptable.

On this six-month anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon, don't let Kenneth Feinberg and the
September 11th Fund tell the American people that regardless of whether
a gay man was one of the four heroes on United Flight 93 who saved the
US Congress and the White House from utter annihilation, the 911 Fund
plans to discriminate against an American hero because most of the
country sanctioned such discrimination prior to September 11.

Please, Please help all people who were directly effected by this
national tragidy! Please don't allow any of the heros to be seen as
anything but heros.

Thank you

Individual Comment
Houston, TX

"[Gays and lesbians are] left out of my program to the extent
that their own state doesn't include them. I cannot get into
a position in this program, which has a one-and-a-half or
two-year life start second-guessing what the state of New
York or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the state of
Virginia or New Jersey, how they treat same-sex partners,
domestic live-ins, etc. I simply say this: What does your
state law say about who is eligible? If your state law makes
you eligible, I will honor state law. If it doesn't, I go
with the state. Otherwise, Tim, I would find myself getting
sued in every state by people claiming that I'm not following
how the state distributes money. I can't get into that local
battle. I've got to rely on state law." - Kenneth Feinberg on
NBC's "Meet the Press," March 10, 2002.

2002-03-17