Michigan is a real confusing state. On one hand, they have lots and lots of same sex couples (see: The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival). On the other they have horribly incalcitrant laws when it comes to same sex rights, especially for same sex adoption.
Now one couple, April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, are fighting back, filing a lawsuit claiming Michigan’s Adoption Code (which doesn’t allow unmarried or same sex couples to adopt) violates the right to equal protection under the constitution.
The couple have three children whom both women have raised since birth, and who otherwise would be in Michigan’s Foster Care System.
According to Kate Abbey Lambertz for The Huffington Post, Michigan is one of five states that bans joint adoption by unmarried parents. In the past seven years, several proposals have been introduced to allow second-parent adoption, but none have been passed. In 2011, two new state proposals, House Bill 4249 and Senate Bill 169, were introduced and are currently sitting in committee.
On the federal level, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act — legislation introduced in the House and Senate last year — would make it illegal to discriminate in adoption and foster care placement based on the marital status and sexual orientation of parents.
Maybe this lawsuit will finally help Michigan sort out it’s schizophrenic personality when it comes to gay couples.