British couple David and Marco Bulmer-Rizzi married last year and have been honeymooning in Australia since December. Tragically, David died on Saturday after falling down stairs at a friend's house in Adelaide and fracturing his skull.
Gay marriage is illegal in Australia and recognition of overseas marriages differs from state to state. South Australia does not recognize overseas same sex marriages. Because of this Marco was informed that his husband's death certificate will state that he was never married. Marco requested that if his marriage was not recognized that the death certificate not mention his marital status. He was told this was not possible. If a Briton dies abroad it is usually possible to register the death at a British consulate and receive a British death certificate, however deaths in Australia are specifically excluded from this process.
When Marco met with the funeral director he was informed that he was not recognized as the next of kin and could not give any instructions as to the funeral arrangements. Everything had to be confirmed by David's father, who had the option of ignoring Marco's wishes completely. (In fact David's father instructed the funeral director to deal with Marco exclusively but they still asked him for confirmation of Marco's arrangements.)
Cases like this highlight the pointless cruelty possible when blatantly discriminatory laws are allowed to stand in supposedly civilized countries.
Gay marriage is illegal in Australia and recognition of overseas marriages differs from state to state. South Australia does not recognize overseas same sex marriages. Because of this Marco was informed that his husband's death certificate will state that he was never married. Marco requested that if his marriage was not recognized that the death certificate not mention his marital status. He was told this was not possible. If a Briton dies abroad it is usually possible to register the death at a British consulate and receive a British death certificate, however deaths in Australia are specifically excluded from this process.
When Marco met with the funeral director he was informed that he was not recognized as the next of kin and could not give any instructions as to the funeral arrangements. Everything had to be confirmed by David's father, who had the option of ignoring Marco's wishes completely. (In fact David's father instructed the funeral director to deal with Marco exclusively but they still asked him for confirmation of Marco's arrangements.)
Cases like this highlight the pointless cruelty possible when blatantly discriminatory laws are allowed to stand in supposedly civilized countries.
via International Skeptics Forum http://ift.tt/1KqNv5J
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