A longtime local couple recently went from adopted father and son to legally wedded husband and husband.
It may sound strange, but same-sex couples across the country have used the adoption “survival” technique in order to secure what little legal rights they could in the absence of marriage equality.
Norman MacArthur, 74, and Bill Novak, 76, have been together since they were in their 20s. In 1994, they registered as domestic partners in New York City. In 2000, they moved to Erwinna, Pa., but may as well have been two strangers: Domestic partnerships were not recognized.
“Without the adoption we would be legally strangers,” MacArthur told Yahoo News. “We wanted to begin estate planning and, most importantly, it would allow us visitation rights in a hospital, and gaining of knowledge if one of us was in the hospital.”
At a sudden loss of legal rights afforded by their domestic partnership, the two retirees sought the counsel of Terry Clemons of Clemons, Richter and Reiss, P.C., in Doylestown. Clemons told them their only legal avenue would be adoption, especially since marriage equality seemed unlikely to happen any time soon in Pennsylvania.
Thus, MacArthur became Novak’s legally adopted son.
But last spring, the state’s marriage ban was declared unconstitutional, prompting MacArthur and Novak to begin the process of vacating their adoption and getting married.
According to MacArthur, “When we went to court my knees were knocking, but at the end of the hearing Terry said, ‘We’re hoping you will sign the order to vacate the adoption from the bench,’ and the judge said, ‘I will happily do that.’”
On May 14, Judge Gary B. Gilman of the Bucks County Orphans’ Court granted their petition to vacate their adoption.
Free to marry, the couple tied the knot May 24 in a small, private ceremony.
“I feel incredibly happy,” MacArthur said. “It’s the only way I can describe it — just enormously happy. It was very much worth the wait.”
According to Clemons, this was the first time in Pennsylvania history that an adoption between a same-sex couple was vacated in order to allow them to marry.