Democrat senator: Father and adopted son should be allowed to ‘marry’
Judge Lawrence J. O'Toole, of the Court of Common Pleas of Allegheny County, told the men that state law didn't give him the power to dissolve a legal adoption, unless there was fraud involved.
Now Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) is asking the Obama administration to strongarm the judge.
Sen. Casey wrote a letter asking U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and the Obama White House to "issue guidance for courts across the country" in the matter. Casey hopes to set a national precedent for homosexuals, "so that gay couples who have previously entered into adoptions can annul them in order to receive marriage licenses."
Judge O'Toole noted in his ruling that the primary purpose of Esposito adopting Bosee was for money, to reduce the Pennsylvania inheritance tax payable upon the death of one of the men from 15% to 4%, "as the two men would now be in a parent-child relationship instead of a third party relationship."
Sen. Casey even told the president how to legalize the dissolving of gay adoptions. His letter said the administration's "guidance" could be based on decisions other judges have made that allow the dissolution of adoptions, and Casey noted a Bucks County judge who annulled a homosexual couple's adoption.
Gay activists showered praise on Casey. "I love Senator Casey for taking a position," LGBTQ lawyer Helen Casale said.
"The ACLU is hopeful that the Superior Court will apply established legal principles to allow annulment of adoptions by same-sex couples who that [sic] they can finally partake of their constitutional right to marry," Witold Walczak, the legal director ofACLU Pennsylvania, said.
Because adoption law is a state prerogative, the White House "may have to be creative and devise a [response] that's respectful of a court's prerogatives," Casey said.
The attorney general may file a "statement of interest," or the Obama administration may file a "friend of the court" brief. Either action would pressure judges by pointing out alleged constitutional protections at stake if homosexuals are not allowed to dissolve adoptions and lay out legal reasoning for dissolving gay adoptions.
The Obama administration has been taking the previously rare move of filing White House opinions in several cases, in an effort to "put the federal government on the record in cases that are at the forefront of civil rights law."
Bosee's and Esposito's case is on appeal before Pennsylvania's Superior Court.
Casey came out in 2013, publicly supporting same-sex "marriage." "It's the right thing to do," he said.
