If I asked you who the first recorded victim of the September the 11th terrorist attacks was, would you know? I’m betting a large majority of you might. You’d tell me it was Father Mychal Judge, a Roman Catholic priest and chaplain to the New York City Fire Department who died ministering at Ground Zero even though he was under no obligation to be there.

You’d tell me he was a great man. A heroic man. A gay man?

Robert Emmet Judge to give him his birth name, or Victim 0001 as became his official designation, was one amongst many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) 9/11 victims, and his life has been celebrated by the New York City Fire Department, and by thousands of Americans for the people he touched and his bravery on that terrible day. Indeed, there was a push to have the Church declare him a saint, and his life has been captured on film.

But, specifically, the name Mychal Judge means a great deal to the gay community, and especially the surviving domestic partners of 9/11 victims. Why?

Well let’s start by reiterating that Mychal Judge (who, although identifying as homosexual, remained celibate as per his vows) wasn’t the only LGBT victim that day, nor was he the only heroic gay or lesbian person involved.

Mark Bingham was a passenger on-board Airlines Flight 93 which crashed in Pennsylvania. He helped in defending the aircraft from its attackers, and that is why on the 16th of September each year, San Francisco marks the day as a Mark Bingham Memorial Day. 

David Charlebois was on-board Airlines Flight 77 as the co-pilot of the plane that crashed into the Pentagon. He was a member of the National Gay Pilots Association.

Carol Flyzik was a passenger on the first plane which crashed into the Twin Towers, American Airlines Flight 11. Her partner of 13 years, Nancy Walsh, survives her.

Patricia McAneney, who worked in the first World Trade Center and was the fire marshal of her floor, perished helping people to escape. Her life partner of some 18 years, Margaret Cruz, lives on.

These are just a handful of people that were cruelly taken in the terrorist attacks. Here is a more extensive list of LGBT 9/11 victims.

You may be asking yourself why I have distinguished the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender victims of 9/11 from their straight counterparts at all, and this is a very valid point. The terrorist attacks were perpetrated against America and American citizens. The American nation stood united in its grief that day.

But unfortunately the federal government did, and still does, discriminate.

Help to the spouses of September 11th victims was given in the form of federal relief funds through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Except that, for the partners of LGBT victims, no help could be given.

Why? Well, the 1996 Federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) prevents the government from recognizing gay or lesbian unions as marriages.

Because of this, domestic partners were not able to find out information from American Airlines as to whether their partners were still alive or not, as was the case for Nancy Walsh, partner to Carol Flyzic.

To make matters worse, in the days and weeks after the atrocities of that day, LGBT claimants were unable to provide “adequate” proof of their unions, meaning that they were subsequently unable to claim disaster relief, and this left those surviving partners as well as their straight allies hurt and angry, as this catalog of emails addressed to the Department of Justice shows.

LGBT partners never received the symbolic urn of ashes from Ground Zero, and nor were they entitled to the $25,000 dollars that American Airlines paid out to the families of 9/11 victims. Things seemed bleak.

But, in an unprecedented move, the Red Cross stepped in and expanded what they defined as a “Family Member” so as to include domestic partners, meaning that LGBTs could qualify for the Red Cross assistance fund.

New York State Legislature then passed a bill allowing same-sex domestic partners of 9/11 victims the same rights to claim compensation as their straight counterparts. But many were unhappy that the federal government was still discriminating its relief fund payouts on the basis of sexuality.

It was at this juncture that the legacy of Father Mychal Judge returns to the equation:

In June of 2002, President Bush signed into law the The Father Mychal Judge Police and Fire Chaplains Public Safety Officers Benefit Act which, amongst other things, opened up federal funds to the LGBT partners of 9/11 victims by allowing those named as “beneficiaries” by the deceased to put in a claim, where as previously

This was the first time that the US Government had made such a provision for LGBT domestic partners. It wasn’t perfect, and nor was it specifically intended for gay and lesbian claimants, but it did create a precedent for LGBT partners of disaster victims, and gave them the ability to claim benefits in the future.

Eight years on and DOMA still remains federal policy, though perhaps not for much longer.

It has been announced that Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who sponsored the Mychal Judge act in 2002, will be introducing a bill that seeks to repeal all three sections of DOMA into Congress next week.

It is essential that Congress knows that there is strong support for such a move.

Speaking on the subject of homosexuality and the recognition of gay partnerships, Father Mychal Judge once said:

“Is there so much love in the world that we can afford to discriminate against any kind of love?”

In times of tragedy, equal rights are essential, and this includes equal marriage rights for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Take Action:

If you support gay marriage and a repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act please consider signing this Care2 petition to let your Representatives know that DOMA must be repealed.

You can also read more about Father Mychal Judge and his life here.

Read more Care2 perspectives on the anniversary of that traumatic day:

Hijacked Civil Liberties: The Legacy of 9/11 

Have the Military Responses to 9/11 Been Equal to Their Cost? 

The Impact of Terrorism on the Environment   

On the Eve of the 9/11 Anniversary, Veterans Lobby to Stop Global Warming    

Watch your Back, I’m a Terrorist    

The Heroic Dogs of 9/11