(left) Jacob Rowse, 4, Jayne Rowse, Nolan Rowse, 5, April DeBoer, Ryanne DeBoer, 4, play around at their home in Hazel Park, Mich. on March 8, 2013. The family is involved in a federal court case challenging Michigan's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Michigan's current adoption law prevents same-sex couples from both adopting the children. Currently, Jayne Rowse is the legal guardian of Nolan, 4, and Jacob, 3, while April DeBoer is the legal guardian of Ryanne, 3. The lawsuit is arguing MichiganÃ¢ÂÂs ban on same-sex marriages violates childrenÃ¢ÂÂs and parentsÃ¢ÂÂ rights under the U.S. ConstitutionÃ¢ÂÂs Equal Protection Clause. (Tanya Moutzalias | MLive.com)

DETROIT, MI -- The trial that could overturn Michigan's gay marriage ban begins Tuesday in Detroit.

U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman will make his decision after an expected eight days of testimony.

Jayne Rowse and April DeBoer, a lesbian couple who live in Hazel Park, filed the lawsuit after learning they cannot jointly adopt the three children they are raising due to the voter-passed 2004 Defense of Marriage Act.

"We're just eager to have the case heard," said DeBoer, who, like Rowse, is a nurse. "And we're eager to move on with out lives and have the legal rights that we've been fighting for."

They'll be in court on day one of the trial, but DeBoer said they may be too busy to attend every day of the hearing.

"Everyday life gets in the way, but we'll be there as much as we can," said DeBoer.

Rowse is the legal guardian of Nolan, 5, and Jacob, 4, and DeBoer of Ryanne, 4. They live together as a family unit but say under law only the adoptive mother has parental rights.

The state of Michigan argues children are benefited by living in a home with heterosexual parents, and that 59 percent of voters in 2004 mandated the law.

Based on lists filed by both the plaintiffs and defense, there are at least 21 potential witnesses, including DeBoer and Rowse.

The state has listed four expert witnesses, including

Mark Regnerus, a professor of sociology at the University of Texas in Austin.

Regnerus conducted a study of 3,000 young adults that looked at

40 measures of social, emotional and relationship outcomes in their lives.

He found that

adults raised by lesbian mothers had negative outcomes in 24 of 40 categories, while adults raised by gay fathers had negative outcomes in 19 categories, the Washington Times reported

He concluded that “children appear most apt to succeed well as adults when they spend their entire childhood with their married mother and father, and especially when the parents remain married to the present day," which contradicts statements by the American Psychological Association that children of gay parents are not disadvantaged in any way.

The state filed a deposition with another of its witnesses,

economist Joseph Price of Brigham Young University, who likewise said children are negatively impacted by the instability of a same-sex union.

"Divorce is a family of instability and it's really clear that same-sex couples have less stable unions than opposite-sex couples," he said in his deposition. He agreed that a single-parent household also creates an unstable environment for children.

Before a hearing in October, at least 10 of 83 county clerks across the state said they were prepared to immediately begin issuing same-sex marriage certificates should the ban be revoked.

DeBoer said they don't plan to get married right away if it becomes possible, worried that an appeal could reinstate the law and nullify it.

"We're going to wait until it's all said and done and finished," she said, "then get married."

Check back with MLive Tuesday for live coverage from the courthouse.