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10-year Memory of the openly Gay people who died on

September 11, 2001

Among the openly Gay people known dead at the World Trade Center was New York Fire Department Roman Catholic Chaplain Father Mychal Judge, a Franciscan Friar. Judge, 68, was killed while ministering to a fallen firefighter at Ground Zero. Judge's helmet was presented to the Pope, and Judge was chosen Grand Marshal of the 2002 Chicago St. Patrick's Day Parade. There is also an initiative to elevate Fr. Mychal to sainthood. This initiative, of course, will go nowhere given the negative attitude of the Roman Church toward Gay people. In June 2002, President Bush signed the Mychal Judge Act, granting federal money to certain survivors of victims of 9/11, including same-sex partners.

Mychal F. Judge, the openly Gay Franciscan Friar who was Chaplain of the Fire Department of New York City, being carried away from the site of his death.

Mark Bingham, 31, a Gay passenger on United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in Pennsylvania, helped to thwart the plane's hijackers. September 16 is officially designated Mark Bingham Day in San Francisco, CA.

40-year-old Carol Flyzik's plane, American Airlines Flight 11, never made it to California. It was the first of two planes to crash into the World Trade Center. Flyzik, who was a registered nurse and a member of the Human Rights Campaign, is survived by Nancy Walsh, her partner of nearly 13 years.

 

David Charlebois, the co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which crashed into the Pentagon, was openly Gay. Charlebois was a member of the National Gay Pilots Association. Tom Hay, his partner of almost 13 years, survives him.

 

Graham Berkeley, 37, a native of England who lived in Boston, boarded United Airlines Flight 175 on Sept. 11 on his way to a conference in Los Angeles. He died when the plane became the second hijacked airliner to crash into the World Trade Center.

Pamela J. Boyce, 43-year-old Boyce, a resident of Brooklyn, worked on the 92nd floor of One World Trade Center as assistant vice president of accounting for the New York office of Carr Futures. Her partner Catherine Anello survives her.

A Gay couple on their way home to Los Angeles from Boston were killed when United Airlines Flight 175 was hijacked & crashed into the second tower of New York's World Trade Center. Ronald Gamboa, 33, and his partner of 13 years, Dan Brandhorst, 42, were traveling with their 3-year-old adopted son, David. Brandhorst and Gamboa were founding members of the Pop Luck Club, an L.A. organization for Gay men interested in adopting children.

James Joe Ferguson, 39, director of geography education outreach for the National Geographic Society, was on American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon. Ferguson was traveling on a National Geographic-sponsored educational field trip to the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary off Santa Barbara, Calif.

Openly Gay flight attendant Jeffrey Collman’s American Airlines Flight 11 (from Boston) smashed into the north tower of New York’s World Trade Center. He is survived by Keith Bradkowski, his partner of 11 years.

 41-year-old John Keohane was at work near the World Trade Center when the planes hit. He was killed by falling debris. Keohane worked at One Liberty Plaza near the World Trade Center and died when the towers collapsed.

Sheila Hein, 51, was working for the U.S. Army’s management and budget office in the Pentagon when American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into it. Peggy Neff is Hein's partner of 18 years. Virginia's Criminal Injuries Compensation Fund administrators refused to accept the couple was anything but "friends."

However, in January 2003, "the federal government's 9-11 Compensation Fund approved what is said to be the first payment to [Neff], a person in a gay relationship whose partner was killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."  

"Roxy Eddie" Ognibene, a beloved member of the Renegades of New York's Big Apple Softball League, was tragically lost in the Sept. 11 World Trade Center attack. He worked as a bond trader for Keefe, Bruyette & Woods on the 89th floor of WTC 2.

Larry Courtney and Eugene Clark were partners for 11 years. Clark, 47, worked for Aon Consulting on the 102nd floor of the World Trade Center's south tower. Clark sent Courtney a voice message: "I'm OK. The plane hit the other tower. And we're evacuating." Clark is still missing.

Bill Randolph's partner of 26 years, Wesley Mercer, 70, is among three security personnel from Morgan Stanley killed in the World Trade Center attacks. Mercer, who was vice president of corporate security, was drinking coffee on the ground floor of the WTC when the first plane hit. He rushed to the 44th floor to supervise the evacuation of employees. All 3,700 employees escaped harm. Then Mercer, a decorated Army veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars, returned to the 44th floor to make sure no one was left behind. Unlike other surviving partners, Mr. Randolph is not eligible for the full range of benefits, from pensions to Social Security payments to special memorial funds available to victims of Sept. 11.

Luke A. Dudek, 50, was the food and beverage controller at Windows on the World Restaurant atop of the WTC. Dudek is survived by his partner of 20 years, George Cuellar. Cuellar said his partner loved Cuellar's flower business so much that after years of renting space, this year they bought their own property for the business. He said Dudek spent a week of vacation in September completing renovations. Dudek's first day back to work in New York was Sept. 11. He died in the attacks on the World Trade Center.

Michael Lepore, 39, a project analyst at Marsh & McLennon, loved to garden. He had pruning his rosebushes, clearing wayward ivy off stonewalls, planting bulbs for next spring. David O'Leary, Mr. Lepore’s partner of 18 years, says their house and garden in Yonkers had been Mr. Lepore's pride and joy and are now Mr. O'Leary's primary source of comfort.

John Winter and his partner, William Anthony Karnes, 37, lived within sight of Karnes' office at Marsh & McLennon on the 97th floor of the World Trade Center Tower One. Walking to the office together, the couple had timed the "commute" at just 11 minutes. On the morning of September 11, Karnes, who went by "Tony," left for his office at about 8:30. At 8:45, Winter heard what sounded like a calamitous thunder clap. When he looked out his apartment window, he could already see his future. Karnes was killed in that morning's tragedy. In dealing with the aftermath, Winter says that he was "fortunate [in having] a good relationship with Tony's family in Knoxville."

New York resident Tom Miller lost his partner Seamus O'Neal in the World Trade Center attack. "I did not have the luxury of grieving without having to defend myself and prove who I am and who we were," Miller said. "If down the road anyone can be spared that torture, that would be excellent,"

Elba Cedeno lost her partner of six years, Catherine Smith, 44, who worked on the 97th floor of one of the World Trade Center towers. They both had wills, which will ease the process of Cedeno taking sole ownership of their home. But Cedeno said that she will not qualify to receive any of Smith's Social Security benefits. "This was my soul mate. We planned to live the rest of our lives together and retire together.”

Emergency aid kept Margaret Cruz afloat after the loss of her partner of 18 years, Patricia McAneney. Ms. Cruz documented her financially interdependent partnership and prevailed with the Crime Victim's Board, the Red Cross and the New York State charitable fund. A total of $80,000 went to Ms. Cruz. McAneney, 50, who was the fire marshal of her floor of 1 World Trade Center, where she worked for the insurance company Guy Carpenter.

Waleska Martinez, 37, a computer whiz in the Census Bureau's New York office, was aboard flight 93 that crashed outside Shanksville, PA. In his book, Among the Heroes, Jere Longman "unobtrusively quotes [Angela Lopez, her] same-sex partner." Lopez said, "She was my longtime companion, best friend and soul mate."

Renée Barrett, injured in the September 11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, died on October 18 of her injuries. Barrett was a member of Metropolitan Community Church of New York. She leaves behind her life partner Enez Cooper and her 18-year-old son, Eddie, who lived with them. Renée was an employee of Cantor Fitzgerald, and was in Tower 1 at the time of the attacks. Though critically burned she escaped the building prior to its collapse, and had been hospitalized at Cornell-Presbyterian Hospital where she died.

Francis S. Coppola, a New York City detective whose partner, a firefighter named Eddie, died in the attacks, summed up the bipolar feelings many GLBT people have had about Sept. 11. "I have never been more proud of being an American or a New Yorker, but at the same time it has made me sad. We live in the greatest country in the world, and yet we are treated like second-class citizens.... The great love of my life died doing what he did best and what he loved to do: helping others. I have never been an activist or ever wanted to be one; however, it is time we stand up and be counted and demand equality -- nothing more or nothing less."

As the days went by, we learned that some of the missing rescue personnel were gay, and that many of their lovers/partners, some of whom are cops and fire fighters, were grieving in silence for fear of outing them. There were also gay cops who lost family members that were rescue personnel. We all learned too quickly and in too cruel a way that the closet is a terrible place to grieve...

Matt Foreman, former executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda, says advocates have already identified 24 surviving partners from the Trade Center attack, and believe that there may be as many as 50 in total, based on surveys about gay and lesbian participation in long term relationships.

 Then there are the living HEROES  

 
The faint smell of putrid smoke seeped through my gas mask as I passed buckets of unrecognizable ruin to cops and firefighters I'd never seen before. For hours we quietly passed buckets filled with lost hopes and dreams in a silence I have never before experienced. -- Edgar Rodriguez, executive director, Gay Officers Action League New York

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Lesbian and Gay New York police and a firefighters:
Spike Cutolo; Grace Telesco; Francis S. Coppola (he watched his boyfriend, a firefighter, go into the south tower and never come out); Andrew Lavenski; Carol Paukner; Edgar Rodriguez; Tom Ryan; Ann Cregan; Thomas Verni

Tom Ryan, one of just three out-of-the-closet firefighters in New York, [says] he "learned that about 25 closeted gay firefighters died on Sept. 11," and he knows "others who survived but are still afraid to come out." 

Posted: 09/02/11