Father And Adopted Son Get Married In Pennsylvania

Bill Novak, left, adopted Norman MacArthur in 2000.

A father and his adopted son got married in Pennsylvania last week, after living together as a couple for 52 years.

Yahoo Parenting reports that Bill Novak, 76, and Norman MacArthur, 74, vacated an adoption and instead became a married couple.

Novak and MacArthur originally went through the adoption process for estate planning after being unable to marry in the state.

The couple, who have been together since their 20s, registered as domestic partners in New York City in 1994.

After moving to Pennsylvania, they learned that state law prohibits same-sex marriages. They were advised by a lawyer to became legally related through adoption.

So in 2000, Novak adopted MacArthur. But when Pennsylvania's marriage law, which prohibited gay marriage, was declared unconstitutional last year, they decided to get legally married.

On May 14, they went to court to get the adoption rescinded.

"We had 30 friends in court to show that this case was out of the ordinary — though the judge knew that — and when the judge signed the order our friends burst into applause and I burst into tears," MacArthur said.

Ten days later, the two went from father and son to married couple. "We wanted to get the marriage done fairly quickly after the court vacated the adoption," MacArthur said. "At that point we didn't have any legal protection so we wanted to get it taken care of."

The wedding was a small private ceremony conducted by their old friend, who is an Episcopalian priest. "I feel incredibly happy. It's the only way I can describe it – just enormously happy," MacArthur said. "It was very much worth the wait."