R001473
Sunday, March 17, 2002 4:06 PM
Treatment Unfair
Hello,
I'm writing to you in order that I may politely express my deep feelings regarding Victim's Compensation and the September
11 Fund.
If the government is willing to overlook citizenship status in compensating victims, then this program should certainly overlook
domestic-partner status as well. Does the United States recognize a marriage performed outside the United States for people
who do not hold citizenship in the United States? In other words, what if my partner and I married in The Netherlands or in
Sweden (where same-sex marriage is legal), and what if he died in the Twin Towers? Would I THEN be able to get
"compensated"?
By extending compassion in the form of compensation to non-citizens of the U.S. and by denying this compassion to its own
citizens, what message do you send?
I'll tell you the message you send: "queer American" is an oxymoron.
We serve in your military. We protect your nation. We administer last rights to dying firefighters. We are firefighters, cops,
chaplains, pilots. We are your neighbors. We are born here. We die here. We don't deserve to be reduced to petty
monetary squabblings. We don't expect you to treat our love, or our being, as second-rate, as invisible, as anything less than
American.
That's why your indefensible ruling on this matter hurts so very, very much.
Yours,
Individual Comment
A queer American in Houston, Texas