W000598
Monday, November 26, 2001 2:38 PM
INCLUDE gay and lesbian domestic partners in equal compensation
I am not someone who will be impacted by how the Department of Justice
defines "family" when dispensing funds for the victims of the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. But these people were family to me regardless. It is beyond an outrage if everyone who suffered loss is not treated equally. People died in those attacks who had families, who had children, but who did not have "wives" or "husbands". When the government defines legal marriage as the only love that counts, hundreds of people who had equal love for their partners are excluded from benefits they rightfully and morally deserve. Particularly at the Pentagon, everyone who works there is a patriot. Everyone who died was a patriot. New York law allows domestic partnership benefits through an executive order from the New York governor. If a gay or lesbian victim worked at the Pentagon and lived in Virginia and then died as a result of the terrorist attacks, his or her partner is denied benefits because of Virginia's archaic and hurtful laws born out of religious dogma. Virginia is wrong, and the US government shouldn't compound this outrage.
If you have any sense of decency or patriotism, then ALL survivors' life partners--straight, gay and lesbian--should get equal benefits. Gays and lesbians aren't ALLOWED to get married, and now the government is considering that they be punished for not being married. Do the right thing: Allow gay and lesbian domestic partners to be given EQUAL benefits.
Individual Comment
Urbana, Illinois