Two dads, one name

"I'm Italian now," joked the former Jon Holden, one week after legally changing his last name to that of his partner, Michael Galluccio.

Six months after winning a lawsuit that resulted in New Jersey allowing same-sex couples to joinly adopt children. Holden legally changed his name to Galluccio on April 16, 1998. He didn't stop there, however. He also proposed to his partner of 16 years.

The couple will be joined in holy union at Fairlawn's Church of Atonement on Father's Day.

Galluccio said he would have proposed sooner if it hadn't been for the lawsuit seeking the right to adopt their foster son, Adam. He said they wanted to have a ceremony for at least four years.

"Unlike straight couples," he said, "the children made us put the wedding off."

Galluccio insisted that the two did not want "all the trappings" of a traditonal wedding.

"The ceremony will be part of the regular Sunday service," he said. "In the middle of it, we'll get up in front of congregation, and take our vows. Later we'll have a Father's Day barbecue."

The couple's son, Adam, is wrapping up his first year of nursery school, and Galluccio said adoption proceedings for their foster daughter, Madison, are "on track and moving slowly." But for now, the couple will focus on their upcoming ceremony.

"If you think about it," said Galluccio, "Michael and I are legally related, because we have the same child."