The Allen Almanac

This is a word for word reposting of a post at Dispatches from the Culture Wars. I don’t usually do that, but I wanted to raise awareness on this issue that, frankly, had never occured to me either:

As the nation pauses to reflect on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, I think it’s impotant to look at how that event affected so many gay Americans. Can’t imagine why that would have any effect on gay people distinct from its effect on straight people? It hadn’t occured to me either, until I read this essay by Kevin Cathcart, the Executive Director of Lambda Legal. He points out some of those ways, like those who had partners who died in the crash
but without the legal and financial protections of marriage:

Roughly two dozen lesbians and gay men that we know of lost a partner in the September 11th attacks, and less than a quarter of those people received the benefits automatically awarded to married spouses. Some of those “benefits” boiled down to fundamental rights and responsibilities like being able to obtain a death certificate and to make arrangements for a partner’s remains. On top of the intense sorrow of tragically losing a loved one, surviving partners also suffered the indignity of having to prove the validity of their relationship over and over again — and that was in the best of circumstances, when people had taken the time to write a will and health care proxy or, where applicable, register as domestic partners.

Even with my involvement in this issue, I had never given a thought to the fact that surely there were some gays and lesbians in the World Trade Center who left behind partners without the kind of legal and financial protections that the rest of us just take for granted. Cathcart describes a couple of people they helped jump through all the hoops set up by the various compensation funds, hoops that did not apply to married couples:

Peggy Neff became the first surviving same-sex partner to be awarded compensation from the fund. She and her partner, Sheila Hein, had been together for 18 years, when Sheila was killed in the attack on the Pentagon. Sheila had left a will expressing her wishes that Peggy should inherit her entire estate, but despite the will, Virginia’s wrongful death law would have left Peggy with only a fraction of the proper compensation had it not been for the full support of Sheila’s mother, who respected her deceased daughter’s wishes that Peggy be treated as a surviving spouse would be. Lambda Legal represented Peggy during the federal claim process, which resulted in a $500,000 award and marked the first time the federal government had granted compensation based on a same-sex relationship.

Lambda Legal also represented Keith Bradkowski, whose partner of 11 years, Jeff Collman, was a flight attendant on American Airlines flight 11, the first plane that hit the World Trade Center. Keith and Jeff had registered as domestic partners in California, which by law designated Keith as the personal representative of Jeff’s estate and at that time provided wrongful death but not inheritance protection. But Jeff had not written a will, and Keith faced stressful negotiations with Jeff’s parents and his employer to receive what a married spouse would have automatically been awarded. Keith later became an advocate for the inclusion of inheritance rights in California’s domestic partner laws and gave a moving testimony before Congress about his life with Jeff, his struggle to be treated fairly after Jeff died and why the proposed federal marriage amendment is profoundly wrong-headed.

And remember that since 2001, many states have passed laws that can be used to refuse any recognition of such relationships, even in cases like this. So while we’re remembering and honoring those who died, let’s honor all of those who died, not just the ones from the Norman Rockwell paintings. And let’s stop making life harder on them by putting roadblocks in their way to prevent them from the kinds of protections the rest of us never have to think about.