Lara Ryan was devastated after her partner of a decade was killed in accident.
The couple have two children together, they live together, they loved each other and yet, when Elise Ryan died after being hit by a car, Lara was not allowed to call her her “wife”.
When Lara went to the police to file an incident report, she was not allowed to mark the the box labelled “spouse”.
“I had to cross out boxes for husband on the death certificate and boxes for father on our new baby’s birth certificate,” she writes in a Facebook post, which has already been shared more than 43,000 times.
“I had to yell out in a busy, crazy emergency room ‘She is my wife, I know it’s not legal but she is my wife!'”
On top of the heart breaking lack of recognition for their ten year relationship, because they do not have a marriage certificate the paperwork increased tenfold.
“We were never political, we just did our thing, did our life our way and tried to live by example to shift peoples hearts rather than pushing agendas,” she says.
“BUT (sic) the amount of freaking paper work I am having to do to secure mine and my children’s future welfare is just ridiculous when all it would take is one marriage certificate.
“And most of all because I love her, and she has been my every day for ten years. She is the mother of our two girls, she is the future I dreamed of and she is my safe place to land.”
She ends with a reminder that “love is love” and should always be celebrated and encouraged.
“The world is harsh enough.”
The couple’s friends and family have started a fundraising page to help care for their children Ivy and Skylar.
Not convinced? This beautiful short film about same-sex marriage proves love is love.