Mich. plaintiffs: ‘Now we have to plan a wedding’

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Mandi Wright, Detroit Free Press

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse

The journey has been long and arduous for the couple, but now they and thousands of other same-sex couples across the USA finally have the right to legally marry after the Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage.

“I’m elated,” DeBoer said Friday with tears streaming down her face as she watched the ruling come down. “We’re overwhelmed. This is surreal. This is what we waited for. This is what we always wanted. I guess now we have to plan a wedding. I’m speechless.”

The Hazel Park, Mich., nurses were at the center of Michigan’s case. The couple challenged a voter-approved same-sex marriage ban on constitutional grounds, arguing they had a right to marry and adopt each other’s children. But the state argued that a court should not overturn the will of the voters.

Dozens of people gathered at Jim Toy Community Center here to celebrate the landmark ruling. Couples and supporters waved flags, cried, danced and shouted in elation in the minutes after the ruling.

“It means everything to us,” DeBoer said. “This is a great day in our lives. I still can’t believe it, but we had to believe it would come. We had to believe the law would protect our kids.”

Lead plaintiffs

• Kentucky Greg Bourke and Michael DeLeon, together more than 30 years with two adopted children.

• Michigan April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, who each adopted two special-needs children but couldn’t adopt them together.

• Ohio James Obergefell, whose partner died before they could legally marry in Ohio; they traveled on a medical jet to Maryland to marry after more than 20 years together.

• Tennessee Valeria Tanco and Sophy Jesty, legally married in New York but not in Tennessee after they moved.

Source: USA TODAY research

Several hours later, the couple asked the federal judge who overturned Michigan’s gay-marriage ban, U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman, to perform their marriage ceremony. Friedman said yes, so DeBoer and Rowse plan to wed later this summer on a date still to be determined.

“I know you didn’t think this was where it was going to go, but thank you for getting the ball rolling,” Rowse said.

Earlier in the day, Friedman said that he and U.S. District Judge Judith Levy, the first openly gay U.S. District Court judge among those in the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals’ territory, cried when they heard that Supreme Court justices had struck down the gay-marriage ban.

In 2004, 59% of Michigan voters supported a proposal that read: “To secure and preserve the benefits of marriage for our society and for future generations of children, the union of one man and one woman in marriage shall be the only agreement recognized as a marriage or similar union for any purpose.”

The couple’s journey began in spring 2011 when they visited a Detroit lawyer’s office to draft a will and guardianship agreement that would guarantee that the four children they were raising together would remain a family no matter what happened to their adoptive mothers.

The couple eventually sued the state because they couldn’t jointly adopt their children without a legal marriage.

“We anticipated success, but the feeling we got today, there’s no way to describe it,” said Kenneth Mogill, one of DeBoer and Rowse’s lawyers. “Everyone working together can move a mountain. How does it feel to have been part of moving a mountain? The law books are going to say this was a 5-4 decision, but we won this case by tens of millions.”

DeBoer and Rowse’s case went to trial and in March 2014, Friedman deciding Michigan’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. Friedman’s ruling led to more than 300 same-sex marriages taking place in Ingham, Muskegon, Oakland and Washtenaw counties during a brief 10-hour window before the state was able to ask the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals to put a hold on the ruling while it appealed.

The three-judge panel decided that change should come through “the customary political processes,” prompting an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court heard oral arguments in same-sex marriage cases from the four states in the 6th Circuit — Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee. The court’s decision settles a tangle of laws and legal rulings that have allowed same-sex marriages in 37 states and Washington while banning it in other places such as Michigan.

In the Michigan part of the argument, the court asked this question: Do constitutional protections of due process and equal protection under the law require states to license same-sex marriages?

The state argued that the Constitution is silent on the definition of marriage, so it should be left to the states. DeBoer and Rowse argued the ban violated their rights by discriminating against them because of their sexual orientation.

“This is a good day in history,” DeBoer said. “The Supreme Court is on the right side of history. It’s unbelievable.”

For Jim Toy, a pioneer of the lesbian-gay-bisexual-transgender movement, this moment was a lifetime in the making. Toy, 85, spent the majority of his life fighting for equal rights.

He helped start the equality fight 40 years ago in Detroit and marched in June 1963 with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in Detroit’s civil rights march.

“I’m overwhelmed,” Toy said, while watching dozens of people cry and embrace each other outside of the community center named in his honor. “Finally, the Supreme Court has affirmed and supported dignity and human worth.”

DeBoer and Rowse never expected to be the ones at the forefront of the fight for marriage equality. When asked if they believe they’re heroes, Rowse quickly said no.

“We’re still just two moms that have four kids,” Rowse said. “I don’t think we’re any different. We just took a stand. Hopefully, this chapter is coming to an end.”

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