Fridae

Diane Whipple, a 33-year-old college lacrosse coach, was killed in her apartment hallway when two of her neighbours' dogs attacked her.

Bane, a 120-pound Presa Canario tore the clothing off the 110-pound victim, spattered blood along the hallway and had trouble calming down even after being hit with three tranquilizer darts, according to a Chicago Tribune report.

With the help of the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), her partner, Sharon Smith, has filed a suit against the dog's owners, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel.

This is a landmark case as there has been no precedence of such a suit in California. Under current California law, only spouses, children or parents are entitled the right to bring wrongful death actions.

Smith and the NCLR are seeking not only to require Knoller, 45 and Noel, 59 to accept responsibility for the tragic killing, but also to have the state of California acknowledge Smith and Whipple's long standing relationship.

If Smith wins her suit, she would become the first person in the US to be awarded anything on behalf of a gay partner.

Smith, an investment banker has received more than 500 letters from supporters and 'more emails than she can read' and has even been approached by strangers who support her.

"So many people have come up to me; it's every walk of life? This is not a gay thing or a woman thing - it's a human thing," Smith said.

The Mercury News reported that many of her supporters are not gay or lesbian but are moved to action by the brutal death. Her once-apolitical supporters are now fighting for domestic partner laws, organising benefits, and raising money for Smith's legal expenses, women's athletics and cancer research. Whipple had survived a bout of thyroid cancer before the fatal attack on January 26 this year.

Paul Clifford, who leads support groups for parents of gays and lesbians in Fremont told the paper, "The public can understand the pain of a spouse whose partner has been ripped to shreds by a dog."