Accidental Activists

Directed by Mandi Wright

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.