Another couple denied their freedom to marry

This is so sad:

My boyfriend...he's my brother.

I was adopted by my uncle when I was merely weeks old. My parents didn't want another child and they were going to have an abortion, but afraid of my grandparents, they had me and gave me to my uncle and aunt.

[...] We'd had a few chats in the past before about our relationship. I remember once he told me that he would marry me if I wasn't his sister. But this time it was different. We were so close that the excuse of "you're my sister/brother" didn't stop us anymore. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. He was amazing. And just like that we said "I love you." It was amazing. I thought we could live like that forever...

But I was a naive 16-year-old. My parents caught on pretty quickly. It was a major disaster. I won't go into too many details, but they kicked him out. They said I proved I wasn't their daughter. It felt like my entire life had ended. We had been talking about moving to England before and it only seemed like the logical decision at the time. My brother said my real family missed me so much and they'd love to have me, so I packed my bags and I left.

[...] Apart from the time we spent together and away from the family, our life was awful. We couldn't sit next to each other and we weren't allowed to go places alone. Everything we did prompted a remark about how disgusting we were. I think his parents thought I was ruining his life.

I came back to America. It was the worst flight of my entire life. I was being separated from the one person I loved most in the entire world. It was terrible. I think I cried the entire eleven hours. After a series of unfortunate events I ended up back in England. I did not want to be there. Life was even more miserable than before. I don't understand why anyone has to give someone such a tough time for loving someone.

I think it was hard on him, but he promised me that we'd move out one day. But there was constant bickering, constant fighting in the family. I think for me the worst of it was when my dad told me that they should have had an abortion. I'd hit rock bottom. I was forced into therapy. It was suppose to help me with not having feelings for him anymore...

[...] It pisses me off that we'd have to leave our entire family and our entire life to be together. It pisses me off that we are not together. I hate talking to an iPhone all day. I hate not having him by my side. I just want to go on a date, to get engaged, to have the children that we named two years ago.

For any people out there in a similar situation: you're not alone. Even if you're afraid of your family, there are people out there who sympathize with you, and care about you. There are people going through similar things, some of whom are living successful, happy lives.

If you're a sibling who needs help with your family's acceptance, I wrote this pamphlet just for you.