--- description: Two women whose case became a part of the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage are finally able to adopt. title: Couple Who Helped Legalize Gay Marriage Wins Fight to Adopt image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cfe8119aac8b11e/69886fe2ab6d77dbe76a7040/april-deboer-jayne-rowse1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Couple Who Helped Legalize Gay Marriage Wins Fight to Adopt by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2015 1:17 AM CUT  April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse stand before Judge Karen McDonald during an adoption ceremony at the Oakland County Circuit Court, in Pontiac, Mich. on Nov. 5, 2015. April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse stand before Judge Karen McDonald during an adoption ceremony at the Oakland County Circuit Court, in Pontiac, Mich. on Nov. 5, 2015.Carlos Osorio—AP by [Maya Rhodan](/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 6, 2015 1:17 AM CUT Two women whose case became a part of the landmark Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage [are finally able to adopt each other’s children.](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2015/11/05/couple-who-helped-pave-the-way-for-same-sex-marriage-is-finally-allowed-to-adopt/?tid=sm%5Ftw "undefined") The Washington _Post_ reports April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse were permitted to adopt five children by a federal judge on Thursday. Their case started in 2012, when they sued the state of Michigan for the right to adopt one another’s children and become their legal parents. The two had adopted kids separately, but now share legal parental rights. The case eventually was folded into the larger challenge to the ban on same-sex marriages at the behest of a federal judge. The couple married shortly after the Supreme Court in June ruled in favor of their case, deciding that bans on same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. “We’ve made changes throughout the United States and we’re very proud of that, but I think our proudest moment is this one right here,” DeBoer said, according to the [Associated Press.](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FGAY%5FMARRIAGE%5FMICHIGAN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT "undefined") ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/"},"headline":"Couple Who Helped Legalize Gay Marriage Wins Fight to Adopt","datePublished":"2015-11-06T01:17:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:23:59.388Z","description":"\"I think our proudest moment is this one right here\"","url":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/","keywords":["Supreme Court","Marriage","Family","Michigan","same sex marriage"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cfe8119aac8b11e/69886fe2ab6d77dbe76a7040/april-deboer-jayne-rowse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cfe8119aac8b11e/69886fe2ab6d77dbe76a7040/april-deboer-jayne-rowse1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Gay Marriage Michigan","caption":"Gay Marriage Michigan","creditText":"Carlos Osorio—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/","name":"Couple Who Helped Legalize Gay Marriage Wins Fight to Adopt"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Behind the Scenes of a TIME Cover Shoot: Gay Marriage","description":"Behind the Scenes of a TIME Cover Shoot: Gay Marriage","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FiD0ttYs/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-03-28T01:48:43.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FiD0ttYs.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/","duration":"PT1M46S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4102359/gay-marriage-adoption-april-deboer-jayne-rowse/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```