EAGLE, Idaho (AP) -- What they didn't know before moving to Idaho could fill a house, and in many ways it does.
Robert Ryan, 42, suffers from depression and asthma after surviving the September 11 terrorist attacks.
The kitchen table holds stacks of legal papers. Medication bottles litter a nearby countertop. The two-story home Robert Ryan, 42, shares with his partner, Ralph Martinelli, 53, overlooks a quaint suburb west of Boise, a rural landscape of ruddy hills that doesn't seem quite as welcoming as it once did.
A 2,400-mile move west that once seemed like a chance at a fresh start, has instead delivered some hard lessons -- especially about moving from a state that recognizes same-sex unions to one of the 21 states that don't.
The couple was stunned when Ryan was dropped from the company insurance plan the two shared in New Jersey, where they were able to register as domestic partners. Idaho does not formally recognize same-sex couples.
"It didn't even dawn on us that this would have an impact," Ryan said.
Ryan and Martinelli met four years ago when Ryan was out of work and battling depression he developed after surviving the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center. Ryan worked on the 74th floor of the south tower and escaped after the north tower was struck first. Six of the 20 employees he managed at Morgan Stanley were killed.
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