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Jayne and April DeBoer-Rowse, who are suing the State of Michigan for the right to both adopt their children, send congratulations to everyone whose marriage is now recognized by the federal government. But they want to remind everyone we still have a ways to go until all families have equal rights.
Though DOMA Is Dead, We Have Not Yet Finished Our Fight For Equality
By April and Jayne DeBoer-Rowse
We are excited and hopeful about the Supreme Court’s rulings on DOMA. We are excited that all the couples waiting to marry in California, will be able to see their weddings day, and that couples lucky enough to be married in states that have adopted marriage equality will now have those marriages recognized by the Federal Government. We are hopeful that this ruling paves the way for Judge Friedman, who stayed his decision on our case until after today’s ruling, to overturn the ban on same-sex marriage and second parent adoption here in the State of Michigan.
This was a happy day. But we are only halfway up the hill. Tomorrow when we wake up, we will still not be able to both adopt our own three children, and our children will still remain without all the protections the children of heterosexual families are granted.
So even as we celebrate today’s ruling, we know that we still have a long road ahead of us in the fight to ensure our children, and children in families like ours, have the same civil rights as all other children in the United States. This judgment makes us hopeful that times are changing, and families like ours will soon have the same rights!
We cannot stop fighting until we are all equal.
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April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, registered nurses living in suburban Detroit, have been a couple since 1998. Although the state of Michigan has licensed their home for children in crisis who are in need emergency placement, state law prohibited them from adopting as a couple. Although April and Jayne are parenting 3 children together, only one of them is allowed by law to adopt each child, depriving the children of all the rights and protections of a 2 parent family.
In 2012 Jayne and April sued the State of Michigan in Federal Court asking to be allowed to adopt their children as a couple. The presiding judge surprised the couple by suggesting the women amend their complaint to challenge the Constitutionality of Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages, which after much consideration, they decided to do.
In March 2013, Judge Bernard Friedman declined to rule on Jayne and April’s amended complaint until the Supreme Court handed down it’s decision on DOMA. With today’s decision, they will now return to Federal District Court and have the fate of their family decided.
