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<item xmlns="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5" itemId="28494" public="1" featured="0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5 http://omeka.org/schemas/omeka-xml/v5/omeka-xml-5-0.xsd" uri="https://www.911digitalarchive.org/items/show/28494?output=omeka-xml" accessDate="2026-04-05T11:40:25-04:00">
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          <element elementId="50">
            <name>Title</name>
            <description>A name given to the resource</description>
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              <elementText elementTextId="264506">
                <text>Department of Justice Emails</text>
              </elementText>
            </elementTextContainer>
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          <element elementId="41">
            <name>Description</name>
            <description>An account of the resource</description>
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              <elementText elementTextId="264507">
                <text>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.</text>
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  <itemType itemTypeId="18">
    <name>September 11 Email</name>
    <description/>
    <elementContainer>
      <element elementId="65">
        <name>September 11 Email: Body</name>
        <description>The basic content, as unstructured text; sometimes containing a signature block at the end.</description>
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            <text>
Monday, December 17, 2001 10:18 PM
Discrimination

Dear Mr. Zwick:

I am writing in response to the Department's request for public comments regarding the forthcoming regulations for implementing and administering the "September 11 Victim Compensation Fund."  I strongly urge the Department to draft regulations that ensure compensation is available to all victims of the attack, including the domestic partnerships (committed partners) and the non-biological children of gay and lesbian victims.  

It is not difficult for domestic partners to demonstrate (objectively) their financial interdepence.  Health Insurance companies have been doing this for quite sometime and require proof of financial interdepence for at least one year.  It can be evidence such as a joint lease or joint purchase of real estate, or recent utility bills for the same address.  There are many documents that can show this interdepence. 

It is unquestionable that the devastating grief and economic losses suffered by the families of gay and lesbian victims are no less than that of other families.  Just as the terrorists drew no lines in choosing their victims, our country must draw no lines in compensating those who suffered the most personal of losses from these horrific attacks.

Many Americans lost their lives on September 11, each of whom left behind loved ones.  I urge the Department to honor these clear bonds by treating the families of gay and lesbian victims as you would any other.  Would you rather that the survivors file lawsuits?  Would you rather that children survivors petition the courts for support.  How will it look to the vast majority of Americans who may have religious differences and still believe in freedom.  What message would our government be sending?  

Would that make our government any better than the terrorists?  

I hope that the administrators in our government have the decency to help all the victims who have suffered so much.
Sincerely,
Individual Comment
Stoughton, MA
 
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      <element elementId="66">
        <name>September 11 Email: Date</name>
        <description>The local time and date when the message was written.</description>
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            <text>2001-12-17</text>
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      <description>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/.</description>
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        <element elementId="50">
          <name>Title</name>
          <description>A name given to the resource</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354690">
              <text>dojA002148.xml</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
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    </elementSet>
    <elementSet elementSetId="4">
      <name>911DA Item</name>
      <description>Elements describing a September 11 Digital Archive item.</description>
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        <element elementId="52">
          <name>Status</name>
          <description>The process status of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354691">
              <text>approved</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="53">
          <name>Consent</name>
          <description>Whether September 11 Digital Archive has permission to possess this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354692">
              <text>full</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="54">
          <name>Posting</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor gave permission to post this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354693">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="55">
          <name>Copyright</name>
          <description>Whether the contributor holds copyright to this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354694">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="56">
          <name>Source</name>
          <description>The source of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354695">
              <text>born-digital</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="57">
          <name>Media Type</name>
          <description>The media type of this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354696">
              <text>email</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="59">
          <name>Created by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the author created this item.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354697">
              <text>yes</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="60">
          <name>Described by Author</name>
          <description>Whether the description of this item was submitted by the author.</description>
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            <elementText elementTextId="354698">
              <text>no</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
        <element elementId="61">
          <name>Date Entered</name>
          <description>The date this item was entered into the archive.</description>
          <elementTextContainer>
            <elementText elementTextId="354699">
              <text>2001-12-17</text>
            </elementText>
          </elementTextContainer>
        </element>
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