Briton David Bulmer-Rizzi, 32, died in an Adelaide hospital after a tragic accident while honeymooning in SA with his husband Marco, 38.
David fell down a set of stairs at the estate the couple was staying with friends, cracking his skull.
Last Friday he was confirmed as brain-dead by the Royal Adelaide Hospital doctors last Saturday.
Both David and Marco are UK citizens, where same-sex marriage is legal. They married in June last year in south London, before a second full ceremony in Santorini, Greece with all friends and family present.
As same-sex marriage remains unrecognised in Australia, David’s death certificate carried the status: “Never married” and Marco was not recognised as next of kin.
“It was a personal attack on David, on our memories, it was the most humiliating moment of my life,” Marco told ABC 730
“David was my safe place. David was everything I wanted to wake up to every morning for all sorts of reasons, that I don’t think … I can’t even try to explain.”
David’s father Nigel Bulmer, who had to fly from London to receive his son’s remains also told ABC he was shocked by what had happened.
“I didn’t think anything could hurt me more than I was hurting at the time and that really did. That was just — putting the knife in and twisting it,” he said.
South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill took to Sate Parliament and social media to ensure the certificate will be changed to remove the description of ‘never married’.
“I felt deeply ashamed that these things happened in South Australia. A man’s just lost someone he loves, his husband, someone he’s legally married to and he’s treated with disrespect in my State, and it caused me to feel very sad and I… I reached out to him and contacted him and offered an apology for what he’d experienced here in South Australia and obviously offered my condolences for his loss,” he told the news.
Marco and David’s father Nigel have organised for David’s organs to be donated. They have collected David’s ashes and left Australia yesterday.
Source: ABC, In Daily