Accidental Activists

Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer were simply looking to overturn the law that would allow them to adopt their children. But on the recommendation of a federal judge, the Hazel Park couple’s lawyers launched a frontal assault on the legal barrier that prevents them from jointly adopting — Michigan’s constitutional amendment that prohibits same-sex couples from marrying. The case, which Free Press photographer/videographer Mandi Wright has been following from the outset, became the accelerant that would result in the Supreme Court legalizing same-sex marriage across the country in June 2015.