R001680
Sunday, March 17, 2002 9:25 PM
Exclusion of Gays from 9/11 Fund
I was distressed to learn that Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the September
11th Victim Compensation Fund, said that gay partners of the victims of
September 11th will not necessarily be eligible for the same compensation as
heterosexual family members who lost their loved ones.
I'm not sure that there's a way to handle distributions from the 9/11 fund
without making some people feel like they've gotten sort shrift, but I think
it is an outrage that our government is bending over backwards to give 9/11
benefits to illegal aliens, but attempting to deny benefits to U.S. citizens
who are the Gay life partners of victims. I recognize that there are some
tough issues involved. In places where Gay couples are not allowed to
register as life partners, how do you distinguish a bona fide life partner
from someone who was in less-committed relationship with one of the victims
or, worse, from some low-life who may or may not actually even be Gay who
invents a relationship with one of the victims in order to cash in? If you
allow benefits for Gay life partners who are not registered, do you open
yourselves up to litigation for not affording the same benefits to non-Gays
who were living with (but not married to) the victims? But then, I imagine
there are similar issues regarding the illegal aliens. If you're not from
here and weren't married here and we have no record of your marriage, how do
we know you were actually married? How do we know that those who claim to be
children of illegal aliens killed on 9/11 really are those people's
children, when we have no birth records to validate the claims? I'm glad I'm
not the one who has to make the decision about who gets 9/11 money and who
doesn't. It's a quagmire, and I admit I don't have all the answers on how to
navigate through it. But I do know that it's outrageously discriminatory and
totally un-American to ignore U.S. federal laws and provide benefits for
illegal aliens, while hiding behind the letter of discriminatory state laws
to deny benefits to Gays who lost their life partners in the 9/11 attacks.
Just so you don't think I am being self-serving, let me assure you that I am
not Gay. I spent 25 years in the military service of the United States,
supporting and defending the U.S. Constitution and the rights it guarantees
to all Americans. Among the most fundamental of those rights are the rights
to liberty and the pursuit of happiness, and those rights clearly encompass
the right to be free to choose one's own lifestyle and to fall in love with
whomever one will. It pains me to see our Constitution undermined by
government actions that reveal a Judeo-Christian agenda and a moral judgment
that all men are created equal, but only so long as they happen to be
heterosexual. Looking at it from that perspective, perhaps I am being
self-serving. By advocating for the rights of Gays today, I am also acting
in defense of my own rights, which might be threatened tomorrow if the
government suddenly decides that my lifestyle lacks the proper moral center
required to be considered a full-fledged U.S. citizen with entitlement to
all the rights and benefits thereof. I urge you not to allow the
discriminatory policy stated by Mr. Feinberg to stand.
Individual Comment