Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live At Daybreak
Homosexuals Seek Partner Death Benefits from 9-11 Attacks
Aired December 14, 2001 - 05:56 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: But first, they have been grieving for more than three months now over the loss of their loved ones in the September 11 attacks, and they say that the agencies set up to help victim's families are only making matters worse.
CNN's Maria Hinojosa reports on why these 9-11 survivors are being denied aid.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Keith Burkowski (ph) has come to Manhattan to honor the love of his life.
KEITH BURKOWSKI: And this is when Jeff received the American Airlines flight attendant award.
HINOJOSA: Jeff Collman was his name, a patriot, a Republican, an American history buff who loved American Airlines. He died a flight attendant on the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center.
(on camera): You guys were openly affectionate.
BURKOWSKI: Oh yes.
HINOJOSA: Everybody knew that you guys were partners.
BURKOWSKI: Absolutely, 11 years.
HINOJOSA (voice-over): Jeff and Keith, who lived in San Francisco, were so in love with each other that they got as close to marriage as they were allowed. The tragedy of September 11 has shown that it was not close enough.
BURKOWSKI: We were married in our hearts with one another, but legally in terms of we could get as close to a marriage certificate as we could was the domestic partnership agreement. So it's very painful having to -- having to go through -- jump through all sorts of hoops.
HINOJOSA: Keith and his sister, Candy (ph), came to the Family Assistance Center at Pier 93 to try to get the aid he believes is due a partner of 11 years.
BURKOWSKI: I want to be afforded the same rights, courtesy, respect and compassion that any other spouse who has lost a loved one in this tragedy.
HINOJOSA (on camera): You think you're going to get that inside?
BURKOWSKI: I don't know. I don't know.
HINOJOSA: And the fact that you don't know makes you feel what about...
BURKOWSKI: I feel second class.
HINOJOSA (voice-over): But to Jeff's estranged family, Keith's relationship is second class. They've already claimed much of the aid aimed for next of kin, a designation Jeff had given Keith on paperwork. Jeff's father told me he disapproved of his son's relationship and said Keith is entitled to nothing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELBA SEDENO: I was totally shut out. Nobody would speak to me. Not only I was in this grieving disaster, they just would not talk to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: The problem of gay survivors of September 11 and their inability to access aid without a formal marriage certificate is so big that gay organizations have set up their own fund.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER MIDDLETON, LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE FUND: There are literally hundreds of legal obligations and protections, responsibilities and rights for families that are predicated on marriage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HINOJOSA: Workers compensation, federal funds for Social Security. Jeff sought help from a gay rights lawyer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shortest visit that I had had to do with the Social Security Administration.
HINOJOSA (on camera): And what did they tell you there?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That I was not eligible.
HINOJOSA (voice-over): But most of the private charities told CNN they've stopped asking questions about same sex partners.
ROSIE BARRAZA, RED CROSS PUBLIC RELATIONS: That's not even a question we asked.
HINOJOSA: The federal government hasn't decided whether its victim's fund, the largest, should recognize domestic partners.
BURKOWSKI: TV cannot capture how immense the destruction is.
HINOJOSA: What Keith can get for now is a visit to ground zero, a chance to stare at the site where his man died.
BURKOWSKI: If I can take anything from here it will be that I'm committed towards the recognition of gay and lesbian partnerships.
HINOJOSA: So that a patriotic Republican gay man can rest in peace knowing that his partner will be taken care of by the country he loved so much.
Maria Hinojosa, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
