Same-sex couple set to adopt kids after lawsuit

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — Formal adoption of children by a same-sex couple who challenged Michigan’s ban on gay marriage will be held in Oakland County Circuit Court.

Attorney Dana Nessel, who represented Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, says in an email that the adoption hearing is scheduled for Nov. 5 in Pontiac.

The couple is raising four children at their Hazel Park home. They sued the state in 2012, challenging Michigan’s ban on gay marriage and restrictions on joint adoption because same-sex couples couldn’t marry in Michigan.

Nessel describes the adoptions as “the last portion of April and Jayne’s legal odyssey.”

Federal Judge Bernard Friedman overturned the state’s gay marriage ban in 2014. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court said same-sex couples have a right to marry.

Rowse and DeBoer married in August.

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