The post reads:

"This is why."



"Because 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. 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). 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 peoples 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."

"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."



"Because love is love and we should celebrate it and encourage it always.

The world is harsh enough. Feel free to share widely - ‪#‎thisiswhy‬"

Ryan's wife, Elise (pictured), died on February 9 this year, one day after she was struck by a car while walking her four-year-old daughter Ivy home from daycare.