If ever there were a perfect example of how basic legal contracts are an inferior alternative to the benefits of marriage for same-sex couples, this heartbreaking story is it. Missouri resident Roger Gorley was staying by the hospital bedside of his partner Allen, with whom he’s been in a civil union for nearly five years — though it is not recognized in Missouri — and with whom he also shares power of attorney. When one of Allen’s family members asked him to leave and he refused, a security official at the Research Medical Center arrested him, removed him from the premises, and issued a restraining order preventing him from visiting his partner.

Gorley explained to Fox4 that the nurses were not even willing to verify their power of attorney, despite the fact the couple has visited the hospital multiple times:

GORLEY: I was not recognized as being the husband, I wasn’t recognized as being the partner… She didn’t even bother to go look it up, to check into it… All we want is equal rights.

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