The road to marriage equality has been long and paved with obnoxious speed bumps like Kim Davis. But before gay marriage was even a thing, couples sadly had to seek roundabout ways to get inheritance and civil rights for their significant others.
Three years ago, Nino Esposito, 78, adopted his partner Drew Bosee, 68, to make their connection legitimate in the eyes of the law, not for Woody Allen-y reasons. They want to get married now that it's legal, but the state still sees them as father and son.
https://twitter.com/PittsburghPG/status/661362646093012993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw “We thought it was never going to come to Pennsylvania in our lifetime,” Bosee said, “It’s sort of ironic that by doing the adoption, we thought we were getting ahead of the game. But instead of being a help, it’s become a roadblock, a hindrance, to what we should be allowed to do now."
The guys have been together since 1970, and when they were revising their wills in 2012, they thought adoption was the only way.
The state trial judge denied their request to annul the adoption. Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole, of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, said that while Esposito and Bosee want to marry, "they cannot do so because they are legally father and son."
https://twitter.com/CL_CNN/status/661619524257607680Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the Justice Department to help Esposito and Bosee out.
Here's hoping that the Justice Department lets these two adorable Old-Man-From-Up look-alikes annul the adoption so they can wed. And media: please stop freaking people out with the phrase "father and son seek right to marry each other."