From karin@u.washington.edu Fri Mar 15 10:01:11 2002 Received: from mailscan2.cac.washington.edu (mailscan2.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.16]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g2FI19DN063764 for ; Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:01:09 -0800 Received: FROM mxu2.u.washington.edu BY mailscan2.cac.washington.edu ; Fri Mar 15 10:01:09 2002 -0800 Received: from mxout2.cac.washington.edu (mxout2.cac.washington.edu [140.142.33.4]) by mxu2.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with ESMTP id g2FI18ZB014067 for ; Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:01:08 -0800 Received: from mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu (mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu [140.142.32.17]) by mxout2.cac.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with SMTP id g2FI18FJ001716 for ; Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:01:08 -0800 Received: FROM homer07.u.washington.edu BY mailscan-out1.cac.washington.edu ; Fri Mar 15 10:01:08 2002 -0800 Received: from localhost (karin@localhost) by homer07.u.washington.edu (8.12.1+UW01.12/8.12.1+UW02.01) with ESMTP id g2FI17kR168048; Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:01:07 -0800 Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 10:01:07 -0800 (PST) From: "K. Dalesky" To: hope_network@u.washington.edu, Subject: FW: 9/11 Fund to Discriminate Against Gays and Lesbians (fwd) Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII FYI.... Thanks, Karin **************************************************************************** "If you obey all the rules, you miss all the fun." -Katharine Hepburn Karin Dalesky University of Washington, Tacoma Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Phone: (253)692-5760 Fax: (253)692-5718 Mailbox: 358436 Email: karin@u.washington.edu **************************************************************************** ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Fri, 15 Mar 2002 08:44:53 -0800 (PST) From: Bernie Schlotfeldt Reply-To: campusq@u.washington.edu To: University of Washington Queer Interest Group Subject: FW: 9/11 Fund to Discriminate Against Gays and Lesbians Apparently America's heroes have one particular sexuality... 9/11 FUND TO DISCRIMINATE AGAINST GAYS About.com - US Politics March 11, 2002 by John Aravosis http://uspolitics.about.com/library/weekly/aa031102a.htm When Mark Bingham boarded the plane home that September morning, he had no idea that within hours he would die a hero. At 10:03 a.m. on the 11th of September, authorities believe the 6-foot-5 rugby player from San Francisco was one of a handful of passengers who brought United Flight 93 down in a field in Pennsylvania. There were no survivors. Had Bingham and his fellow travelers not acted, it is thought the plane would have been flown into the US Congress. "It is now believed that the terrorists on Flight 93 intended to crash the airplane into the United States Capitol where I work, the great house of democracy where I was that day. It is very possible that I would have been in the building, with a great many other people, when that fateful, terrible moment occurred, and a beautiful symbol of our freedom was destroyed along with hundreds if not thousands of lives. I may very well owe my life to Mark and the others who summoned the enormous courage and love necessary to deny those depraved, hateful men their terrible triumph. Such a debt you incur for life." - (Senator John McCain's eulogy for Mark Bingham, September 22, 2001.) But on today's six month anniversary of Mark's horrible death, and the nation's greatest tragedy in decades, Mark Bingham (in addition to other gay heroes of September 11) is now officially being declared a lesser kind of hero because he was gay. In an appearance on the Sunday, March 10 broadcast of NBC's "Meet the Press," Kenneth Feinberg, the head of the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund (a fund created by Congress and run by the Department of Justice), said that gay partners of the heroes of September 11th will not necessarily be eligible for the same compensation as heterosexual family members who lost their loved ones. According to Feinberg, lots and lots of people will receive compensation under the plan, including children, babies, and even fetuses. And as an indication of how generous the fund will be, even illegal aliens, who aren't American citizens and who are in the US in violation of federal law, will receive benefits. Feinberg even says that the Attorney General has promised that if undocumented aliens come forward, they won't be kicked out of the country, and their employers won't be penalized. "The attorney general, in consultation with Immigration, etc., undocumented aliens who come forward, the families will not suffer any consequences. They are covered by this program. They will get a check. The employer, where we need the economic information about the undocumented alien, will not be penalized," Feinberg told "Meet the Press." Yep, the Attorney General is himself willing to overlook US law so that the victims of September 11 can be compensated. But when it comes to gay Americans who lost a loved one to Mohammad Atta and his band of thieves, that's when Feinberg and the Department of Justice suddenly do an about face: "[Gays and lesbians are] left out of my program to the extent that their own state doesn't include them. I cannot get into a position in this program, which has a one-and-a-half or two-year life start second-guessing what the state of New York or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts or the state of Virginia or New Jersey, how they treat same-sex partners, domestic live-ins, etc. I simply say this: What does your state law say about who is eligible? If your state law makes you eligible, I will honor state law. If it doesn't, I go with the state. Otherwise, Tim, I would find myself getting sued in every state by people claiming that I'm not following how the state distributes money. I can't get into that local battle. I've got to rely on state law." - Kenneth Feinberg on NBC's "Meet the Press," March 10, 2002. That's a long-winded way of saying that if state law discriminates against gay people, then so will Feinberg and the 911 Fund. The problem for gay Americans who lost loved ones on September 11 is that most states do not legally recognize gay relationships, and the very few that do tend to do so only for state employees, not for citizens at large. And while a handful of cities do in fact recognize such relationships, under Feinberg's formula, it's the state's law that counts, not the city's. So, in the end, pretty much everyone who died - including people who aren't even American citizens and were living in the US illegally - will be honored by the September 11th Fund as deserving of America's special recognition and thanks. The sole exception will be gay and lesbian Americans, because Feinberg and the 911 Fund wouldn't want to do anything contrary to US law. (Unless of course it involves an illegal alien who isn't even American - then apparently it's okay to bend the rules.) On this six-month anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, Kenneth Feinberg and the September 11th Fund are telling the American people that regardless of whether a gay man was one of the four heroes on United Flight 93 who saved the US Congress and the White House from utter annihilation, the 911 Fund plans to discriminate against an American hero because most of the country sanctioned such discrimination prior to September 11. If September 11 has taught us anything, it's that our patriotism and love of country transcend our differences and unite us all. It would be ironic if the generosity of so many Americans in giving to the September 11th Fund were used to further divide us as a people, and send the message to all that some American heroes are more equal than others. I leave you with these words of Senator John McCain. "I never knew Mark Bingham. But I wish I had. I know he was a good son and friend, a good rugby player, a good American, and an extraordinary human being. He supported me, and his support now ranks among the greatest honors of my life. I wish I had known before September 11 just how great an honor his trust in me was. I wish I could have thanked him for it more profusely than time and circumstances allowed. But I know it now. And I thank him with the only means I possess, by being as good an American as he was. "America will overcome these atrocities. We will prevail over our enemies. We will right this terrible injustice. And when we do, let us claim it as a tribute to our liberty, and to Mark Bingham and all those who died to defend it." - Senator John McCain, Eulogy for Mark Bingham, September 22, 2001. Contact information for the September 11 Fund: 888-714-3385 (Toll-Free) 202-305-1352 (Direct Dial) TDD: 888-560-0844 victimcomp.advbenefits@usdoj.gov Office of the Attorney General: 202-353-1555 202-514-2001 The President of the United States: president@whitehouse.gov ------ End of Forwarded Message .