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, March 20, 2002 2:44 PM Excluding gay family members? Dear sirs, When I learned of the utter hypocrisy being practiced by the September 11th fund in refusing (I think you are calling it "limiting") compensation to the partners of gay victims, I was very disappointed in my country. What disturbs me most is not only the fact that gay relationships and gay partners are being discriminated against - that has been going on for quite a long time - but rather that the reasons for doing so are being asserted on a legal basis. Since gay relationships aren't recognized by federal law, they cannot be included in a federal compensation fund. By this logic, however, since illegal immigrants are not even recognized as citizens of this country under federal law, they too should not receive compensation from a government fund. Furthermore, since unborn children do not even exist yet, and it is often unsure if a fetus will survive to birth, they should not be counted as family members at all, and therefore not receive compensation either. Surprisingly, the latter two categories of people are included in the victims' compensation fund. Regular, law abiding, American citizens who are gay, on the other hand, are being completely ignored. It is clear that their suffering is at least equal to that of illegal immigrant families and unborn fetuses, but the fund chooses not to recognize this. The main problem with homosexual discrimination in the US is that it is constantly denied and camouflaged behind legal terms and the "official" definition of a "spouse." The case of the 9/11 fund's discrimination is so clearly an example of hypocrisy that it makes me ashamed of my country. As an American, I believe in our country and I love the opportunities it provides, but I cringe at the fact that we carry out wars to "liberate" countries like Afghanistan and Iraq from repressive regimes while we at home restrict the freedom, liberty, and rights of a significant portion of our own population. September 11th was indeed a turning point for the "American identity" and an opportunity to move forward toward true unity and solidarity. It is just a shame to see an institution directly associated with that turning point, the 9-11 fund, contributing to the emotional, legal, social, and psychological division of the American people. I thought we had moved beyond such divisive practices. Respectfully, Individual Comment September 11 Email: Date The local time and date when the message was written. 2002-03-20 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 dojR002379.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. 2002-03-20