DETROIT, MI -- Citing last week's U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act, a federal judge on Monday ruled that a Hazel Park couple's challenge against Michigan's same-sex marriage ban should go to trial.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman in Detroit declined a motion by the state to dismiss the case, writing that Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer "are entitled to their day in court."

Read the full court order here.

The judge scheduled a July 10 conference to set a trial date.

Rowse, a nurse at Henry Ford Hospital, has two adopted children and has lived for six years with DeBoer, a nurse at Hutzel Hospital, who also has an adopted child.

The unmarried gay couple wants to jointly adopt all three children, but are barred from doing so by state law.

They sued Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuete over the adoption issue, then expanded the lawsuit to challenge the state's gay marriage ban, which voters approved in 2004.

"Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim has sufficient merit to proceed," Friedman ruled. "The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (U.S. Jun. 26, 2013), has provided the requisite precedential fodder for both parties to this litigation...

"Construing the facts in the light most favorable to plaintiffs, and in view of the Supreme

Court's current statement of the law, this Court cannot say that plaintiffs' claims for relief are without plausibility. Plaintiffs are entitled to their day in court and they shall have it."

Follow Khalil AlHajal on Twitter @DetroitKhalil or on Facebook at Detroit Khalil. He can be reached at kalhajal@mlive.com or 313-643-0527.