Lesbian Wins £300,000 Compensation for Losing Partner on September 11

The lesbian partner of a woman who was killed during the September 11 attack on the Pentagon has received more than $500,000 (£300,000) from the fund set up to compensate relatives. The award has been greeted by lesbian and gay groups as an important precedent.

Sheila Hein, 51, worked as an army analyst at the Pentagon and was killed instantly when a hijacked American Airlines plane hit the building. She left a partner, Peggy Neff, with whom she had lived for 18 years.

Under Virginia's state laws, Ms Neff was not entitled to the compensation given to the surviving spouses and children of those who were also killed.

But the fund established by the Department of Justice in the wake of September 11 has decided that she is entitled to compensation for her loss.

Ms Neff had given evidence of her relationship with Ms Hein to the fund. "She was my entire world and soulmate, my closest confidante and my best friend," she wrote in her affidavit to the federal authorities. She also recounted how the jewellery she had given her partner had been pulverised when the hijacked plane hit the Pentagon.

Kenneth Feinberg, the administrator of the September 11 Victim Compensation Fund, has confirmed that Ms Neff has accepted the sum.

The Lambda Legal Defence and Education Fund, which represented her in her fight for compensation, hailed the decision as "a huge step forward for the federal government".