Give and take: Dick Armey and September 11 fund master Kenneth Feinberg send mixed signals about benefits for same-sex survivors. (September 11).The cleanup and recovery effort at the World Trade Center site has drawn to a close, but things are still a mess on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers appear to be at no consensus when it comes to providing benefits to the surviving same-sex partners of victims of the September 11 attacks September 11 attacks Series of airline hijackings and suicide bombings against U.S. targets perpetrated by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. . Case in point: House Republican majority leader Dick Armey on May 29 killed a bill that would have extended death benefits to the survivors of 10 public safety employees who were killed in the attacks and had no designated legal beneficiaries. The group included gay New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of fire department chaplain Mychal Judge. The next day, however, special master Kenneth Feinberg Kenneth Feinberg is a Washington, D.C. attorney specializing in mediation and alternative dispute resolution who was appointed Special Master of the U.S. Government's September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. , who is overseeing distribution of the federal September 11th Victim Compensation Fund The September 11th Victim Compensation Fund was created by an act of congress shortly after 9/11 to compensate the victims of the attack (or their families) in exchange for their agreement not to sue the airline corporations involved. , said same-sex partners will almost definitely receive awards--as long as they have the blessing of the victim's family. Feinberg added that he will refer to state law in cases where the victim's family and the surviving partner do not agree. That could leave survivors out in the cold if the families are hostile or in denial in denial Psychiatry To be in a state of denying the existence or effects of an ego defense mechanism. See Denial. about their relative's sexual orientation sexual orientation n. The direction of one's sexual interest toward members of the same, opposite, or both sexes, especially a direction seen to be dictated by physiologic rather than sociologic forces. . "This is a perfect example of how federal laws could clear up so many issues on gay rights [but do not]," said Joe Grabarz, executive director of the New York gay rights group Empire State Pride Agenda. Pride Agenda worked with New York governor George Patald on his October executive order authorizing spousal benefits spousal benefits Social medicine Benefits, including health and life insurance, provided to a spouse–ie, husband or wife–of an employee; in socially advanced nations and in the US, SBs may be extended to unmarried–including same sex–partners to gays, which could also clear the way for federal compensation. In addition, a September 11 relief act passed May 23 by the state's legislature explicitly indicated that domestic partners should be recognized by the federal fund, though such language is not legally binding. Survivors who live outside New York, however, may find the going tougher if their home state does not back their right to benefits. The upside, activists say, is that the ongoing national debate over compensation for gay partners has given the issue of domestic-partner benefits more national attention than ever before. "I think it's made a lot of people realize that there really isn't equality for gay people," said Grabarz. |
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