Michigan Gay Marriage Case Back In Court

Two Detroit nurses and life-partners, Jayne Rowse, 49 and April DeBoer, 42, are suing the state of Michigan because they cannot jointly adopt their three special-needs children without being married. At the advice U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in October, they are also going after the state’s ban on same sex marriage. He suggested that if the ban was overturned, it would overturn the adoption restriction as well. Before ruling on the case in October, he decided to reconvene in February so that he could hear from experts on the matter.

“This is not the road we thought we’d go down,” Rowse said in an interview last October. “We thought the judge would rule one way or the other on second-parent adoption. No one anticipated this. It was out of left field.”

Today, David Brodzinsky, an expert in adoption and foster care and a former Rutgers University professor, told the judge that there are no “discernible differences” in children who are raised by same-sex couples and youth raised by heterosexuals. “It’s not the gender of the parents that’s the key. It’s the quality of the parenting,” he said.

The state’s Republican attorney general, William Duncan “Bill” Schuette is defending the 2004 constitutional amendment, which was approved by 59 percent of voters. To scratch the amendment, the judge would have to find that it’s “inconsequential” to have children raised by a man and a woman, Assistant Attorney General Kristin Heyse said in her opening remarks.

“This case is about one thing: The will of the people,” Heyse said. “This was not the whim of the few but a vote of the majority.”

Rowse has adopted two children and DeBoer another. They consider themselves married. But without a legal marriage in Michigan, if one parent were to die, the other would not have the legal right to the other’s child. The rights and well-being of these children should not be referred to a “whim” by the state officials.

The trial continues Wednesday at 9 a.m.

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There is hope that someday soon the state of Michigan will it’s grant LGBT residents the dignity of of having the right to marry the person they choose. Until then, LGBT couples living in Michigan (and most other states) remain without any legal protections whatsoever – unless they go to the effort and expense of getting specific legal documents, i.e., living will and medical power of attorney (to empower a partner to make medical decisions and have hospital visitation rights), last will and testaments and/or living trust (to leave property to a partner) and other supporting documents that empower a partner to make decisions about finances, burial and cremation and many other rights denied to same-sex partners who live in non-marriage equality states.

For the most part, couples who can afford these documents will get them. Many LGBT couples are struggling financially because of the economic downturn. For them, Rainbow Law’s state-specific will and trust packages provide an affordable alternative – and their free advance directives are available to any LGBT person who asks.

If you or anyone you know needs legal documents to empower and protect an LGBT relationship, you really ought to give Rainbow Law a try.