Marriage equality is still a distant dream for many people around the world, as Lara Ryan truly realised when her wife, Elise, died in a tragic car accident.
The pair, from Sydney, had a wedding ceremony and have two children together, but as same-sex marriage is not legally recognised in Australia, they could never be officially married.
On Facebook, Lara said the pair had "never been political" and didn't really think too much about their official marital status in the past.
But after Elise died when a car drove into her on the pavement, Lara felt the full burden of injustice.
"Having lost my partner in a horrible pedestrian accident this month I had to ask policemen if I was 'allowed' to write spouse on incident reports," she said.
"I had to cross out boxes for husband on the death certificate and boxes for father on our new baby's birth certificate (both on the same day)."
In the status she continued: "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!'
"Because we were never political, we just did our thing, did our life our way and tried to live by example to shift people's hearts rather than pushing agendas.
"But 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."
Lara's status has been shared more than 52,000 times, with thousands of people commenting to show their support for her and her two children, Ivy and Skylar.
Friends of the couple have now set up a GoFundMe page, asking for donations to help lesson the financial burden Lara now faces as a single mother.
Lara ended her post with a touching tribute to Elise.
"I love her and she has been my every day for 10 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 said.
"Because love is love and we should celebrate it and encourage it always. The world is harsh enough."
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