R002816
Friday, March 29, 2002 12:13 PM
September 11th Victim Compensation Fund
I cannot BELIEVE the discrimination encoded in the definition of 'victim' and
those allowed compensation through them! Law-abiding citizens being denied
compensation - let alone recognition of their grief - because they are gay or
lesbian, while ILLEGAL ALIENS, for heavens sake, are eligible?! With all the
government fuss about illegal aliens, they are still counted as more
'deserving' than a legal U.S. citizen?! This is the worst sort of
conservative American hypocrisy!
I am ashamed of and embarrassed for American leadership; out of an event so
life-changing, a tragedy that nevertheless brought Americans closer and
changed so many lives and policies, an event that brought appreciation and
honor to our Fire, Police, rescue workers etc., an event that made people
re-examine their lives and attitudes - after all this, the decision makers
reduce it all to prejudiced categorisation. It tarnishes any good that may
have come out of 9/11, and it in effect says "Americans - even unborn ones
and illegal ones - have suffered a terrible tragedy which has changed us
forever, and brought us together as a nation, and we recognise the suffering
of all involved...... oh, except for the American citizens that happen to be
gay or lesbian, because we don't count them so we're negating them as
sentient beings who suffered through this too." How dare you do this to such
a percentage of our nation?
I am not, myself, gay - but so what? I am not Asian or African American
either - but I don't condone prejudice; I am not disabled, but I do not think
they are less viable; I am not elderly, but do not discount them as 'past
it'. America talks of freedom and equality and understanding..... then
something like this once again tarnishes that projected image. I cannot even
express how disgusted I am.
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