Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource Department of Justice Emails Description An account of the resource The Department of Justice received more than 11,000 e-mails in response to the agency's public solicitation for comments upon its plans to distribute the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of 2001 established by Congress to benefit the victims of September 11 and their families. These e-mails have been organized here by date. September 11 Email September 11 Email: Body The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end. Wednesday, December 05, 2001 12:28 PM Sept. 11 Victims Compensation Fund Kenneth L. Zwick: I am writing to you as a concerned, taxpaying, and voting American citizen to convey my opinion as to why gay/lesbian couples should be recognized as family and entitled to compensation under the 9/11 Victims Compensation Fund. First I want to say that since 9/11, I have never seen our country more united (I was born in 1967). I have never felt so patriotic and proud to be an American. I even stopped thinking about the differences between Republicans/Democrats and Conservatives/Liberals. We are all just Americans! I count myself blessed that I was fortunate to not lose any family or friends in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Since 9/11, I have been very concerned about what would happen to me or my same-sex spouse should one of us ever be killed in a future attack. The fact that some American's believe that one of us wouldn't be entitled to both emotional support and financial assistance in such a time of crisis is outrageous. We gay couples pay the same taxes, vote in the same elections, fulfill our civic duties, in the same manner as any other American yet there are still some that believe we aren't entitled to EQUAL treatment under the law. When evaluated claims for relief, I urge you to establish standards for providing relief to the surviving same-sex partners of gay/lesbian victims of 9/11. I know that the absence of a marriage license makes such cases a bit harder to prove, but clearly there are objective ways to prove the validity of such relationships. It is unfair to deny someone the legal ability to marry and then penalize them for not having a marriage license. This becomes a double punishment. I am aware that many gay and lesbian organizations have submitted formal requests to the DOJ regarding this position as well as guidelines for determining the validity of such relationships. This all seems fair to me. In my own instance, god forbid something happened to one of us, my same-sex spouse and I have the following: wills, power of attorneys, joint lease agreements, joint loans, joint credit cards, joint bank accounts, AS well as our Vermont Civil Union and Jewish Marriage Certificate. Even in the absence of a Vermont Civil Union or a religious based Marriage Certificate, clearly I have demonstrated to you that there are other ways to proove the existance of an intimate, emotional, and financially interdependent spousal relationship. To deny gay/lesbian survivors appropriate compensation is simply cruel and unfair. Sincerely, Individual Comment Hamden, CT September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2001-12-05 Dublin Core The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/. Title A name given to the resource dojA000932.xml 911DA Item Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item. Status The process status of this item. approved Consent Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item. full Posting Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item. yes Copyright Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item. yes Source The source of this item. born-digital Media Type The media type of this item. email Created by Author Whether the author created this item. yes Described by Author Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author. no Date Entered The date this item was entered into the archive. 2001-12-05