N002256
December 5, 2001
Kenneth L. Zwick
Office of Management Programs
U.S. Department of Justice
Civil Division
Main Building, Room 3140
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530
Re: September 11 Victim Compensation Program
Dear Mr. Zwick:
I am writing in response to the Department's November 5, 2001 request for public comments
regarding the Department's
forthcoming regulations for the implementing and administering the "September 11 Victim
Compensation Fund" established by the
Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act ("the Act"). As that Act makes clear, the
purpose of the Fund is to
provide compensation to any persons who were physically injured in the September 11 terrorist
attacks as well as to the surviving "relatives" of those who died.
We strongly urge the Department to promulgate regulations ensuring that compensation is
available to all surviving family
members of those killed, including the committed partners and the non-biological children of gay
and lesbian victims. Just as
the terrorists drew no lines in killing people, our country must draw no lines in compensating
those who suffered the most
personal of losses from these horrific deaths. in promulgating its regulations, the Department
should look not to legal
formalities that may define relatives or families for purpose of other laws, but rather to the
realities of the lives of those who
were killed and those who loved and were dependent on them.
Indeed, it is clear from the Act that it is precisely the approach the Department must take in
administering the Fund. The Act
specifically identifies a number of "economic" and "non-economic" losses for which
compensation is to be awarded from the
Fund. These include burial costs, loss of earnings, physical and emotional pain, suffering, mental
anguish, and loss of society
and companionship. It is unquestionable that the survivors of those killed on September 11
suffered these types of losses
regardless of their sexual orientation or marital status or their formal legal relationship to the
deceased. Indeed, grief and
economic loss know no such boundaries. The emotional devastation and economic loss caused
by the death of one's partner
is not any less because that person was the same sex as the survivor. A child's anguishing loss of
a parent is not any less
because there was no biologic tie. Since the purpose of the Fund is to compensate survivors
precisely for the types of losses
suffered by family members of those killed, the Department's regulations should not and indeed
cannot properly exclude
anyone who was a family member in fact.
In the immediate aftermath of the September 11 tragedies, as various victim-relief funds were
being established, some on the
extreme radical right criticized relief agencies that had made clear that their intent to make funds
available to assist not only
surviving married spouses of the persons killed in the attacks but also the surviving partners of
gay men and lesbians who had
been killed. These cruel and reprehensible calls for the exclusion of gay and lesbian families
from the relief efforts have been
accompanied by claims that the effort to provide relief to all who have suffered is somehow a
push for a so-called "gay
agenda." However, the determination of who was actually victimized by the September 11
attacks, of those actually suffered
loss, of who actually is grieving, it is not about advancing some alleged political "agenda." What
is at issue here is a human
tragedy of unimaginable horror and dimension and about the fair and humane treatment of all
who have personally suffered
from the acts of the terrorists.
Many gay and lesbian Americans lost their lives on September 11. Many of them left behind
loved ones, including partners
and children whose lives were intertwined with theirs and who were dependent on them for
financial as well as emotional
support. A number of them are known to have engaged in heroic acts that day, and they have
been praised as national
heroes. It would be an insult not only to those heroes, but to all who died on that tragic day, for
the Department to draw
artificial lines defining loss and grief. In fact, it would be unconscionable. We urge that the
Department's regulations reflect
these concerns.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Minneapolis, MN