Touch of Incest

More than brother and sister

First meetings between adopted brothers and sisters can have an erotic aspect, with prolonged hugging, kissing and nervous jokes about sleeping together. Indeed, says Betty Jean Lifton, an adoptee and the author of Lost and Found.

The Adoption Experience, a "touch of incest" often hangs in the air. Most adoptees resist the impulse toward sex. Victoria Pittorino, 24, of Arlington, Mass., and her long lost brother David Goddu, 22, of Holyoke, Mass., did not. Separated since infancy, they found each other last Easter, married a few weeks later and now face a criminal charge of incest.

The rather startling drama began when Victoria, who was adopted at three, learned she had been born in the old Massachusetts mill town of Lawrence. When she sought her roots at the town hall, a clerk cheerfully gave her the names of her brother David and their natural mother, as well as their addresses--"information," an official conceded, "that shouldn't have been in there."

When Victoria's adoptive parents, Albert and Isabelle Pittorino, learned of the secret, incestuous marriage, they pleaded with her to talk to a priest before she got pregnant and had "an imbecile child." Said the Pittorinos' lawyer, Margaret Mahoney: "We're all Catholics in this thing. We told her, 'You can't have a child, you can't abort. You have to get counseling.' " But Victoria insisted she had a right to marry her brother.

Told that there was no other legal remedy, the Pittorinos sought a warrant for the couple's arrest under Massachusetts incest laws that trace back to 1695. Shortly thereafter, Victoria and David, who were living together in an automobile, were arrested, booked, and released pending a preliminary hearing in Lawrence on July 25. A conviction could bring up to 20 years in prison.

The troubled affair left almost everyone involved appalled. Says Mahoney: "How could she do this? She had a very comfortable background, good schools, good opportunities." Victoria seems mystified by all the fuss: "You know, it's weird, Because they want to put you in jail for ng in love. Like love is against the law."

Besides, she insists, there is no danger of a defective child--David plans to have a vasectomy. Says David: "We set our minds to separate, but we can't do it."

Last week they marched into the Lawrence Eagle-Tribune and gave an interview because, in Victoria's words, "we don't want people to think we need help, that we need a psychiatrist." They probably will find few people who agree.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.