Marilyn Riedel is a disabled veteran who has trouble moving, drinking and eating. Probably the only reason she doesn't live in a medical facility is that she has a partner who loves her and stands beside her, despite all the problems. Unfortunately, that partner is also a reason why she can't get a home loan normally available to veterans. You see, the partner is also a woman and they can't get married.

Rob Golub writes for The Journal Times:

If they were married, they could have it. But because they are a same-sex couple, they've been rejected for a loan by the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs. ... [R]etired Capt. Marilyn Riedel has served her country, and she is labeled 100 percent disabled by the government, but she may not apply for a veterans loan with her same-sex partner. The Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs offers sweetheart deals on loans to veterans. But without much of an income, Riedel can't qualify for a loan. With Guardino as a co-applicant, she'd be able to qualify, but a co-applicant must be a spouse under Wisconsin law.

Stories like this can probably be repeated all over the country - and they should be repeated, as often as it takes to get it to sink into the heads of "fence sitters" that denying marriage rights to gay couples causes real harm to real people in measurable ways. Even the strongest justifications for bans on gay marriage pale in comparison to the real-world damage done by blind adherence to "tradition" and religion.

Read More:

• Ethics of Gay Marriage
• Separation of Church and State 101
• Religious Right
• Evangelical Christianity & Homosexuality