Two women who are plaintiffs in the Michigan same-sex marriage case that may reach the Supreme Court, just adopted their fourth child yesterday.Â
April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse are pediatric nurses. They are also two of the plaintiffs who won a federal court ruling overturning Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban, only to lose at the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. But just as they fought to bring marriage to the Great Lake State, so are they fighting to adopt their children and raise them as a legally-married couple.
And yesterday, the stakes got higher as the couple adopted their fourth special needs child.
The New Civil Rights Movement has been following the family for years, ever since they were the subject of our 2012 profile, “Mother’s Day On Our Radar – Lesbian Supermoms Take On Family Equality.” (You can read all our articles on the DeBoer-Rowse family here.)
As our contributing editor Jean Ann Esselink wrote, their march to equality began because they wanted to jointly adopt their children, as different-sex couples are allowed to do. Should anything happen to one, the other parent would have the same legal rights and responsibilities as the other. But the State said no.
As they continue to grow their family, yesterday Oakland County Circuit Court Judge Lisa Gorcyca was on hand to finalize the adoption of two-year-old Rylee, now Rylee DeBoer-Rowse.Â
“I’ve had a chance to follow the love you feel for your entire family,” Judge Gorcyca said.Â
Ironically, on Monday, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette filed with the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the 6th Circuit ruling that found Michigan can ban April and Jayne from marrying – and can ban them from jointly adopting their children, Jacob, 5, Nolan, 5, Ryanne, 4, and Rylee, 2.
“We are here, in this room full of love and acceptance,” DeBoer told the Detroit Free Press. “And yet when we walk out of this room, we are not recognized as a legal family. It can be kind of jarring.”
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Image: Screenshot via Detroit Free Press