The ban on same-sex marriage in Michigan can tear families apart [left to right: April, Nolan, Jacob, Jayne, and Ryanne] Tomorrow the trial of April DeBoer vs. Rick Sndyer begins. This trial has implications not on for our state but for the entire country. Although it started as a suit to give same-sex parents the same sorts of adoption rights […]

Share the Love Late last year, Anne and I traveled to the home of Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, a same-sex couple with adopted children who find themselves at the center of a fierce legal battle over marriage equality and adoption rights for same-sex couples in our state. Our interview got a lot of attention and spurred me on to […]

Every day this week I have been posting about the fundraiser for the legal fund for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse who are challenging Michigan’s discriminatory marriage ban. Today is the last day. Over half of the residents in our state oppose this law and, equally as important, it is a case that’s likely to go to the U.S. Supreme […]

I want to introduce you to the legal team who is fighting to end the ban on same sex marriage in Michigan. These heroes haven’t received any compensation at all for their works but they deserved to be recognized.

Attorneys Carole Stanyar, Dana Nessel, Ken Mogill and Robert Sedler have years of experience trying criminal and civil cases both in state and federal courts. Ms. Stanyar, Mr. Mogill, and Mr. Sedler have all argued before the U.S. Supreme Court, while Ms. Nessel is recognized as one of Michigan’s premier attorneys for LGTB issues, having represented numerous clients over the years. Additionally, there are two nationally recognized, high-profile attorneys, Mary Bunauto and Leslie Cooper, who have signed on to consult for the trial. Mary Bunauto is the Civil Rights Project Director for Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). Ms. Bunauto successfully argued Baker v. State of Vermont in 1999 which allowed for the first civil unions law in the country. Ms. Bunauto also worked on the DOMA case. Leslie Cooper is an attorney for the ACLU’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. She is currently challenging Pennsylvania’s ban on same-sex marriage in Whitewood v. Wolf.

These attorneys who are handling the DeBoer v. Snyder case have assembled a nationally recognized team of expert witnesses who…

NOTE: Every day this week I will be posting about the fundraiser for the legal fund for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse who are challenging Michigan’s discriminatory marriage ban. Over half of the residents in our state oppose this law and it’s time for it to go away for good. Equally as important, it is a case that’s likely to […]

One day we’ll just call it “marriage” NOTE: Every day this week I will be posting about the fundraiser for the legal fund for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse who are challenging Michigan’s discriminatory marriage ban. Over half of the residents in our state oppose this law and it’s time for it to go away for good. Equally as important, […]

This could be the case that overturns same-sex marriage bans across the country once and for all Photo by Anne C. Savage April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse are fighting to overturn Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban, a law passed in 2004 which now is supported by less than half of our state’s residents. What started as a challenge to Michigan’s adoption […]

The ban on same-sex marriage in Michigan can tear families apart [left to right: April, Nolan, Jacob, Jayne, and Ryanne] A few years ago, what started as a family vacation in Ohio nearly ended up in a fatal car crash for April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse. The two nurses had their three adopted children with them and the close call […]

The waiting continues… U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman heard final arguments today in the case of DeBoer v Snyder and Schuette which is a challenge to Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban. The case started as a lawsuit by Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, a lesbian couple who wanted equal custody rights of their adopted children, something not permitted under Michigan law. […]

Vasectomies: Harming society since … wait. WHAT?!? I have written in the past about Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, a Michigan couple who is suing the state to allow them, as a lesbian couple, to adopt each other’s children. When they brought their case before U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, he encourage them to challenge Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages […]

Change is coming fast

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman ruled today that a case being brought by a Michigan lesbian couple challenging Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriages can move forward. Earlier this year, Judge Friedman suggested that the lesbian couple, Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, who were suing to be allowed to adopt each other’s children, broaden their complaint to challenge the same-sex marriage ban itself.

However, on March 6th, Judge Friedman decided to delay his decision until the U.S. Supreme Court gave their rulings on California’s Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. During that hearing, he repeatedly challenged the notion that there is some rational government purpose in preventing same-sex couples from marrying. Now that that the Supreme Court has ruled decisively on the side of marriage equality, Judge Friedman is prepared to allow Rowse and DeBoer to challenge Michigan’s ban.

Click through for details.