Good Vibrations Magazine

Maybe you’ve been following this interesting story about a lesbian who adopted her adult lover?

Well, if you haven’t, let me give you the quick lowdown:

Olive F. Watson is the granddaughter of the I.B.M. founder and daughter of the company’s chief executive. In 1991 Olive adopted her lover of 14 years, Patricia Spado, in order to qualify her as an heir to Ms. Watson’s estate. They broke up. It’s 2007 and Spado has a claim, saying that she is eligible for a share of the trusts.

Got all that? As an adopted lesbian, I am quite intrigued by this story. But let me qualify, I was adopted as a baby, and not as an adult by a lover for a share of a fortune.

Anyway, there are a couple things I’d like to address here.

First, adult adoption is not a new concept. According to About.com, one of the reasons for an adult adoption is “A way to create a legal inheritance rights within a relationship.”

And, Adoption.com says, “Adult adoption was quite a common occurrence during the ancient/classical periods to carry on a dynasty, occupation, or family name; to care for a parent in old age; or to protect property rights.”

But what about the trust lawyer who says that the law was not intended for same-sex partners?

“The purpose of adoption is to foster a parent-child relationship, not a sexual relationship,” he says.

Obviously, he’s missing the point—it’s an adult adoption and they didn’t adopt each other for the purpose of a sexual relationship, they did it for legal inheritance reasons. Hello!!!

So, what’s all the fuss? Well, the fuss is that the adult adoptee and adopted are lesbians, and since they couldn’t get legally married, they used adoption as a way to create a legal bond to share inheritance. Ohhh! Scandal!

Adult adoption for inheritance is not a new thing, but the drama involved is about homosexuality. Uh, does it smell like homophobia in here?

But, why shouldn’t gay people use the legal system however they can to get benefits only afforded to straight, married people? As an adopted person, I do have to wonder what this kind of radical movement would do to the adoption system, and if there would be a backlash against gays adopting, period. But, as a gay person, I’m all for creative means of finding legal ways to create the bonds that straight people are offered through marriage.

The first question a friend of mine had when he read the news story was, “isn’t that incest?” which brings up a whole other question.

So, looking up definitions of incest, I see that for the most part, they focus on marriage.

For instance: Sexual relations between persons who are so closely related that their marriage is illegal or forbidden by custom.

And since gay people can’t be legally married, uh, what does that mean?!

Wow, this is complicated. And on that note, my head hurts and I need to go watch more episodes of Footballer’s Wives. Have you seen this show from the UK? Talk about scandal! So far there’s (I’m still on season one) been an attempted murder, a model set on fire, a nurse messing around with someone in a coma, and too many affairs to count.

I’m just waiting for an episode about rich lesbians who adopt each other….

Judi B. is a sucker for American lesbian adoption scandals and British television.