R001123
Saturday, March 16, 2002 5:19 PM
Disappointing actions by the Compensation Fund
To whom it may concern:
I am not an activist, a politician or a public policy guru. Nonetheless, I write to express my outrage over the 9/11 Compensation Fund's blatant discrimination against gays and lesbians. As a highly-educated, gay American, who is at one of the nation's top law schools, it is evident to me that the Fund's "concern" over being in conflict with state laws is a smokescreen. It is just one more method of discrimination against a large minority population in the United States; a population against whom the right-wing supporters of this administration actively support and condone violence and hatred. This political move by the 9/11 Compensation Fund does more to promote hatred and discrimination against gays and lesbians than clearly anyone in the administration has thought about. What it says to the American public is that of all the groups in this nation, this one group does not deserve the benefits to which other Americans -- and shockingly even non-American illegals -- are entitled. Because of this decision, the administrators of the fund are complicit in future violence against gays and lesbians in this country. You have singled us out and said that we are not worthy of the moneys and support from the fund simply because of who we love.
Recently, when my 83-year-old grandmother in rural Illinois heard about this despicable decision of the fund, she sent me an e-mail and said "Don't worry. Most people don't feel this way in the aftermath of 9/11. These people who run the fund are out of touch with reality. They will have to change their views." I only hope that she proves right.
Until then, the administrators of the 9/11 fund should be ashamed of themselves, and live with the knowledge that they have PERSONALLY promoted and endorsed violence and hatred against gays and lesbians. This is certainly not the American way, and therefore it is a disgrace that these hateful people were put in charge of administering the fund that is compensating the hundreds of thousands of people who were affected by that horrible day -- a fund that is compensating whites and blacks, latinos, arabs and asians, men and women, children, unborn children, old people, husbands and wives, and even illegal immigrants and their families, but NOT gay and lesbian Americans.
With diminishing faith in this nation,
Individual Comment
Arlington, VA