PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) - An advocacy group says the widow of a woman who pushed to legalize gay marriage in Rhode Island before she died of cancer will now be entitled to her Social Security benefits.

Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders made the announcement Thursday.

Patricia Baker testified at a legislative hearing a few months before she died in 2011 that she worried without her Social Security benefits, her wife, Deborah Tevyaw (TEV'-yah), would lose their home.

The Social Security Administration refused her benefits because gay marriage was not legal in Rhode Island until two years after Baker died.

Tevyaw was forced to sell the home, but ultimately won the fight.

GLAD says the administration has now agreed to recognize marriages made since 2007 and paid Tevyaw more than $30,000 in back benefits.