Peggy Neff, 51, may be the first person to receive federal 9/11 benefits as a survivor of a lesbian partnership. Special master Kenneth Feinberg acknowledged, in a letter, Neff’s acceptance of $557,390. Feinberg previously had suggested the definition of family for the purpose of the fund would be based on a state’s law.
Log Cabin Republicans praised the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice and specifically Kenneth Feinberg, appointed by Attorney General John Ashcroft as special master of the Sept. 11 Victim Compensation Fund, for his decision to award the funds to Neff, whose partner of 18 years, Sheila Hein, was killed in the Sept. 11 attack on the Pentagon.
Hein was a civilian Army employee who worked as a management analyst.