The County of Sonoma and a Sonoma nursing home have reached a $653,000 settlement with the estate of Clay M. Greene and Harold Scull, two men who were partners for decades, ending a complicated saga that had sparked a firestorm within the gay and lesbian community.

In March, Greene, who was 78, filed a lawsuit claiming that after Scull's hospitalization and subsequent death, Sonoma County officials sold all of the belongings that he had accrued during a lifetime with Scull because they refused to recognize the right of conservatorship for same-sex couples.

All told, the story was wrenching and infuriating.

The National Center for Lesbian Rights, which swiftly joined the case on Greene’s behalf, said it was a heartbreaking but textbook example of why same-sex couples urgently needed the protections of legal marriage.

That, it turned out, was not exactly the takeaway for Greene, who said he had never heard of the same-sex marriage debate or Proposition 8.

The statement released Friday by Anne Dennis, one of Greene’s attorneys, said simply: “This settlement will allow Mr. Greene to finally have the quiet retirement he deserves.”

Amy Todd-Gher, senior staff attorney for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, was a little more pointed.

“This victory sends an unmistakable message that all elders must be treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their sexual orientation, and that those who mistreat elders must be held accountable,” she said.