September 11 one year later: gays and straights come together to remember the victims of the terrorist attacks. (At Issue).

When thousands of Americans lost their lives in the terrorist attacks last year, it didn't matter if they were straight or gay. And in many ways it still doesn't. In memorial services marking the one-year anniversary of the September 11 attacks, gay victims and their families are being remembered in much the same way as the straight victims.

The city of San Francisco, home of United Airlines Flight 93 hero Mark Bingham, decided to rename the Eureka Valley Recreational Center's gymnasium after Bingham, who often played basketball there. And the city of West Hollywood, Calif., plans to dedicate a playground on September 7 in the name of 3-year-old David Brandhorst, who was killed on United Flight 175 while traveling with his parents, Daniel Brandhorst and Ronald Gamboa.

In New York City, the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center elected to hold its special memorial for the gay victims on the 13th instead of the 11th. "We [didn't] want people to have to choose between coming together as a queer community and coming together as New Yorkers," said Eleanor Nealy, the center's mental health and social services director.

Meanwhile, a gay couple from Long Beach, Calif., has found a distinctive way to remember all the victims of the attacks regardless of their sexual orientation. Corey Gammel and his partner, Peter Marquez, plan to unveil a memorial quilt on NBC's Today show in early September. "We fashioned it after [the AIDS memorial quilt]," Marquez said.

Of course, many people will be remembering loved ones whose deaths did not bring them the fame of Bingham, Brandhorst, or even those on the memorial quilt. "A lot of GLBT people lost [in the attacks] were invisible to the mainstream," said Rosalba Messina, head of the New York center. "That's one reason it's so important for us as a community to recognize our collective losses."