{"id":201350,"date":"2019-05-03T14:09:05","date_gmt":"2019-05-03T19:09:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=201350"},"modified":"2019-05-02T22:01:29","modified_gmt":"2019-05-03T03:01:29","slug":"husband-down-syndrome-marry-25-years-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/husband-down-syndrome-marry-25-years-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Husband with Down syndrome who fought to marry 25 years ago has died"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A man with Down syndrome who fought for his right to get married has died at 56, after 25 years of marriage. Paul Scharoun-DeForge married his wife Kris after they met in the 1980s, and became engaged in 1988. In 1993, they were finally allowed to get married, and shared a happy union until Paul died last month of early-onset Alzheimer’s.<\/p>\n

Paul’s mother Lorraine was originally told not to expect much out of her son with Down syndrome. She told the Buffalo News<\/a> that doctors advised her to drop him in an institution and then leave. Instead, she took him home, where he grew to lead an incredible life, with his seven siblings, a loving wife, and rewarding jobs. But his journey to marital bliss was not an easy one; the state of New York originally would not allow Paul and Kris to get married, requiring them to prove they could consent to marriage, even making them pass tests measuring sexual knowledge, feelings, and needs. But for them, it was worth it.<\/p>\n

“He made me laugh,” Kris told the Washington Post<\/a>. \u201cI looked into his eyes and saw my future, and that\u2019s when I proposed to him. … He said yes.\u201d And despite the obstacles that kept them from marrying, they never gave up, which Lorraine said benefitted more than just the two of them. “What they did cleared the path for other couples,” she said in an interview with the Buffalo News<\/a> after Paul’s death. “He opened up my world,” Kris said.<\/p>\n