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p a t ’ s c r a n k y
A H ero A mid H orror
IF S H E M ISSES A C L A S S .
(H E R f a m i l y m a k e s s u r e
SHE D O E S N ’ T .)
.
Gay passenger might have
foiled hijackers by Tom Musbach
A
mid sketchy reports about the
crash of United Airlines
Flight 93 on Sept. 11 in Penn
sylvania, friends and relatives of
a gay passenger think he might
have tried to thwart the plane’s hijackers.
Before the crash, Thomas Burnett of San
Ramon, Calif., called his wife and said that
he and two other passengers were prepared
to take action against the men who had
seized control of the plane, which was en
route to San Francisco from Newark, N.J. “I
know we’re all going to die— there’s three of
us who are going to do something about it,"
Mark Bingham
he told her, according to the San Francisco
Chronicle.
overpowered the hijackers but were unable to
Mark Bingham, a 31-year-old public rela maintain control of the plane. Friends of Bing
tions executive, also made a call from the plane.
ham, a former Division 1 rugby player who also
He told his mother, Alice Hoglan, about three
played in San Francisco’s gay rugby and basket
men who claimed to have a bomb before the
ball leagues, think he might have been one of
the people who confronted the terrorists, but
phone connection failed.
they acknowledge they might never be able to
What happened between those calls and the
plane’s nose dive into a wooded field near Pitts prove it.
“I have no doubt that if there was an oppor
burgh is still a matter of speculation. Nobody
tunity to save lives that Mark would have initi
survived the crash.
ated action," said Lloyd Kinoshita, who played
Counterintelligence experts speculated the
pickup basketball games with Bingham. “He was
plane was headed toward a Washington, D.C.,
a competitor and leader, but even more so he
landmark before it crashed. Moments before the
tragedy, three other hijacked planes, also travel was a caring individual."
Friends said Bingham vfos a large, athletic
ing from the East Coast to California, destroyed
the World Trade Center in New York and a por man who once was gored in the leg while run
ning with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. He was
tion o f the Pentagon.
the type of person, they said, who wouldn’t be
“This was the only flight of the four that did
afraid to take on the hijackers.
not reach its target, which they believed to be
“Today, in the face of this great tragedy, I am
Camp David, and that gives us reason to
taking a small amount of comfort in the growing
believe that perhaps Mark was able to help
body of evidence indicating that Mark was a
save the lives of people on the ground,”
hero," said Bryce Eberhart, a PlanetOut Partners
Hoglan, a United Airlines flight attendant,
employee
who played rugby with Bingham.
told N B C ’s Today.
A senior U .S. intelligence official told
M SN BC.com that mobile phone communica T om M usbach is news director of
tions from Flight 93 suggest three passengers Gay.com/PlanetOut.com Network.
quickly became apparent that paralysis of the air
of a generation ago is that today many people
can openly acknowledge the partners and fami transportation system made travel impossible for
others.
lies they have lost, no longer having to suppress
The Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education
those ties or the reasons for their sorrow. It does
Network, citing safety concerns, canceled its
not lessen the loss, but it does help in the
“Teaching Respect for All” conference Sept. 21
process of coping with it.
Today organizations are around to help peo to 23. It had been booked into a hotel just three
ple through the times of trouble. Some legal pro miles from the Pentagon. The nearby Reagan
National Airport, which many of the nearly
tections are in place, blood relatives often are
1,000 participants would have used, remains
more knowledgeable and accepting, and it is less
closed.
likely that survivors will be thrown out of their
The 41st Interscience Conference on
homes, compounding the personal losses they
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, a
have suffered.
Many members of the community are help leading forum focusing on AIDS research, has
ing console friends in their grieving and main been moved from Sept. 22 to 25 to Dec. 16 to 19
in Chicago.
tain the routine of daily life. Christopher
During a Metropolitan Community Church
Goeken’s work for a New York state senator has
service Sept. 16, one worshiper told of losing a
taken him into the residential complexes of the
dozen friends in the attack. Among the injured
war zone at the southern tip of Manhattan.
is member Renee Barrett, who remains in a
Electricity and phone service are still out in
coma with severe bums and lung damage.
much of the area, fixxl supplies are mnning low,
Multiple skin grafts will be required if and
and seniors in particular are having a hard time
when her condition improves enough to allow
coping with the deprivation and isolation. Even
those prcKedures. Her spouse, Enez Cooper, and
the simple act of refilling a medical prescription
teen-age son are keeping a bedside vigil.
is a challenge.
Two AIDS fund-raisers did move forward
Numerous events across the country were
during
that first weekend in San Francisco. One
canceled or rescheduled because of the attacks,
was a fash ion-oriented event, the other a five-
including all professional sporting events and
kilometer run.
most charitable events.
They prompted outrage from activist
The National Minority A ID S Council can
Michael Petrelis. “I’m sickened by the greed of
celed the U.S. Conference on AIDS. Some
attendees already were heading for the event j A ID S Inc. in San Francisco during this time of
scheduled for Sept. 13 to 16 in Miami, but it I turmoil. ”jn
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