metro >> on the cover

Senior Living I Independent «pi/Assisted Living

Historic Ruling

Same-sex marriage decision results
in celebration and ambiguity.

Ronelle Grier I Contributing Writer

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

line to get a license from Oakland
County Clerk Lisa
Brown, the couple
was married by
Berkley District
Court Judge James
(Jamie) Wittenberg at
the home of mutual
friends.
Because of time
Judge
constraints,
they
Wittenberg
could not return to
the clerk's office for their marriage
certificate, which serves as an official
record of the marriage.
"It was a little disappointing, but
still a great, meaningful day:' Elizabeth
said.
It was also an emotional day for
Oakland County Clerk Lisa Brown,
who was a co-defendant in the lawsuit
because her office
could not issue mar-
riage licenses to
same-sex couples.
During the trial,
Brown made it
clear she believed
prohibiting same-
sex marriage was
Lisa Brown
a discriminatory
practice and said she
was ready to issue
licenses to same-sex couples as soon as
the court deemed it legal. On Saturday,
March 22, she and her staff provided
142 marriage licenses, and Brown
personally performed more than 80
ceremonies. Additional weddings took
place elsewhere in the county building
and on the outside grounds.
"It was incredible Brown said,
"seeing so many people so deeply in
love, including some who have been
together for 30 years or more. It was
an honor to be part of it:'
Wittenberg, who
was called by his
friend, plaintiffs'
attorney Dana
Nessel, to lend his
services, performed
five marriage cer-
emonies, including
the one for Elizabeth
Dana Nessel
and Lisa Bargende
Sollish.
"The lines at the
clerk's office were out the door:' he

The Secret for

At Independence Village of White Lake, our residents
live life their way, in an affordable but luxurious setting.
All-inclusive pricing means that our guests can experience
all of our amenities with no surprise costs.

• One and Two bedroom apartment homes

•

Home Health Care Services available on-site

•

Exquisite Chef prepared meals

• 24 hour professional and caring staff

•

Housekeeping and linen services

• Chauffeured transportation

•

Exciting daily activities

Call to learn more or stop

by for a tour. We're happy

to answer your questions and
give you a glimpse inside our
community. We just know you'll
love it.

APARTMENTS
AVAILABLE

CALL
TODAY!

935 Union Lake Rd.,White Lake, Ml 48386
Between Elizabeth Lake Road
Deal of 111-c
and Cooley Lake Road

SpinalColumn

e ivakt

www.SeniorVillages.com

,,wand

248-360-7235

©2014 Independence Villages are managed and lovingly cared for by Senior Village Management

151

121

1903350

12

March 27 • 2014

said. "There were a lot of families, and
the courthouse was buzzing. People
were very happy:'
In his opinion, Friedman stated the
2004 Michigan Marriage Amendment
(MMA) was unconstitutional because
it violated the Equal Protection Clause
of the 14th Amendment. His deci-
sion came two weeks after the end of
a multifaceted trial that ended March
7 in U.S. District Court, where expert
witnesses from the fields of social sci-
ence, law, economics and psychology
testified about whether children raised
in same-sex households had different
outcomes than those raised by hetero-
sexual couples.
Friedman concurred with the
evidence presented by the plaintiffs,
which concluded that the sexual orien-
tation of the parents did not affect the
children's social or academic success.
"It was the best possible opinion,
eloquent and so well-stated:' said
Nessel, who brought her children to
the Oakland County Clerk's Office to
see the results of her team's legal vic-
tory firsthand. "To watch these couples
made the fruits of all our labor even
more overwhelming:'

Landmark Case

The case, DeBoer v. Snyder, originated
as an adoption dispute between the
State of Michigan and two Hazel Park
nurses, Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer.
The women wanted the right to jointly
adopt the three special needs foster
children they are raising together.
Rowse is the legal adoptive parent
of two of the children, and DeBoer has
adopted the third. The women filed
their lawsuit after becoming concerned
about what might happen if one of
them should die or become incapaci-
tated because a non-legal parent has
no official standing or parental rights.
While the couple had been approved
by the state to serve as joint foster
parents to all three children, current
Michigan law does not allow unmar-
ried couples to adopt jointly, regardless
of gender.
After a hearing last October,
Friedman decided to expand the case
to include the state's same-sex mar-
riage prohibition and ordered a bench
trial, which began Feb. 25 and lasted

Historic Ruling on page 14

