Yet Another Couple Denied the Freedom to Marry

From Full Marriage Equality:

I was raised in a normal family, with plenty of guidance in accepting people even if I didn't agree with situations or choices. However, I would say I craved love. I have a lot of love and affection to give and spend a vast amount of my time helping others in need.

I found out about my situation early into my teens - that the man who had raised me was not my biological father, but someone else was - I shall call him Chris. Chris had many commitment issues and I had many half siblings, only two of which welcomed me. They were excommunicated from the family circle, so to speak, and had been neglected by our genetic father. I didn't trace my half siblings until I was into my 20s, not because I didn't want to, but due to the lack of resources and the spitefulness of my mother.

I currently live with my half brother and our children (his) & (mine). We’re together happily, like any other couple.

[...] I tracked my [half-brother] via the Internet and contacted him. He had been looking for me all those years; he had remembered me. He had a different mother and my mother had left my father so we had been only around each other the minimal amount of time, to begin with anyway. [My half-brother] is older than me by 6 years but we are on an even wavelength with the same interests and hobbies.

[...] Before him, I didn't know what was missing but I knew I didn't quite feel like I belonged with anybody or that I fit in with people. When he came into my life it was like the whole world had stopped and for once everything was perfect. I didn't need to question anything; he was exactly what my life had been missing. I was home, my heart was at ease and I finally knew what love was in its most amazing form.
The first meeting was quite funny, I'd been told stories about this person and created this illusion in my head of this rough and rugged full-of-anger person. But I stood shocked that day. This man was sweet and thoughtful - everything my illusion was not. He was perfect. However, there was no attraction at that moment. Just a perfect connection.

[...] We both, after about 11 months, were feeling something but neither had confirmed this with the other. It was an evening he had been around and I had already had vivid dreams of him and this yearning for him was so powerful. I had carried out research and found Genetic Sexual Attraction information and forums. This made me feel normal but I still didn't know how to tell him for fear of repercussions. I was playing around on You Tube one night whilst he was cleaning up and came across a song, “Love Him Out Loud.” [...] He could never possibly know, but he did at that moment [...]. We talked about our feelings for 4 days before anything happened. But when it did - I'd never felt more alive. We both played our part and embarking on our relationship was a mutual decision.

[...] This love - the connection is so intense but yet so beautiful. We feel as if we have been made only for each other. In honesty, neither of us have ever felt this kind of love. To describe it, it's like the moment I looked down on my newborn son with such an overwhelming intense unconditional love. I've never felt so complete, so in love with another human or even had such restraint, such patience in disagreements. Instead, we have more understanding. Even now, down the line, it still feels like a new love, it hasn't dulled but grown. We are physically closer and emotionally closer and I can't imagine ever having this bond with any other human. He is the yang to my yin, my twin flame, my best friend. I never felt confused or deluded. It felt right and still does.

[...] He is my brother first and my partner second. I can distinguish between the two. We live together and let others assume whatever they want to. We want to marry and be together properly but stupid ancient laws prevent us. Yet we are at our most happiest together.

[...] No one is aware we are in a relationship. To everyone, we are brother and sister. If we are visiting somewhere new on holiday, perhaps we can be husband and wife then. I limit the information I give people, keeping them at arms length. [...] They need proof and unless they are with us they won't have any.

[...] I would love to tell them this: I have been a victim to men all my life in every cruel way. My [half-brother] may be a relative of sorts but he is the only man I could trust with my life. He would never do anything I didn't agree to or want. People can think this is disgusting or disturbed, but in reality when you have suffered as I have, you realise this isn't a heinous crime, and should never be punished as such. He didn't know me as a sister nor did I know him as a brother. He is a man that I fell in love with. [...] We hurt no one. [...] It's a man and woman together regardless of who they are to one another. This goes the same for homosexual couples; they share love and happiness. Should this not be all that matters in a dire world we live in? People need to be more open minded.

If caught in my country my [half-brother] could face up to 14 years in prison but yet a man who rapes or molests 1-3 girls under 15 with a 15 year age gap will serve just 3 years! [...] My brother’s only “crime” is love. There are worse things in this world than being in love with a relative or someone of the same sex.