As both acceptance and animosity toward the transgender community grow, personal stories are essential to education and advocacy. This story series began, like most ideas, with a confluence of inspiration. With transgender people increasingly in the spotlight, their lives have become more visible — but not entirely visible. Many Americans only see what the public eye will allow. Celebrities like […]

Even while throwing a great party on March 20, the event co-producers still have their eyes on the ultimate goal of lived equality. It began as an LGBT wedding expo six years ago, in response to LGBT couples being turned away from wedding venues that disapproved of same-sex marriage. Following the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide, […]

Citing a lack of adequate funding, Fair Michigan, a coalition of groups and individuals headed up by civil rights attorney Dana Nessel and that included noted Republicans like Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, Gov. Snyder’s former press secretary Sara Wurfel, and Lansing attorney and political mover-and-shaker Richard McClellan, has ended its attempt to put the civil rights of LGBTQ […]

The guest post was written by Sommer Foster, the Political Director for Equality Michigan and a long time political activist. You can follow her on Twitter at @SNFoster. I used to be a self-proclaimed ally. I had a gay best friend. I had gay and lesbian family members. I voted against the gay marriage ban. I pushed back against homophobic […]

[NOTE: This piece has been edited to correct a claim that Wayne State University Law School Dean Jocelyn Benson had helped draft the ballot language. This statement, based on civil rights attorney Dana Nessel’s opening remarks, was, apparently, inaccurate. I have corrected this post and issued a correction with audio HERE.] Last night, the Jim Toy LGBTQ Community Center sponsored […]

With the deadline to get insurance starting January 1 coming up on December 15 the time to act is now. Before the Affordable Care Act (ACA), LGBT people faced significant discrimination in access to healthcare. That all changed with the passage of the law fondly known as Obamacare, and the uninsured rate for LGBT people has reached an all-time low. […]

Today, November 20th, is International Transgender Day of Remembrance (TDOR). TDOR was started by transgender advocate Gwendolyn Ann Smith as a vigil to honor the memory of Rita Hester, a transgender woman who was killed in 1998. The day is intended to bring awareness to the violence experienced by the transgender community on a daily basis. The trans community faces […]

Lawsuit seeks to make it easier for transgender people to change the gender marker on their state IDs. In a victory for fairness and anti-discrimination protections, on Monday a federal judge refused Michigan Secretary of State Ruth Johnson’s motion to dismiss an ACLU lawsuit. The lawsuit challenges a state policy that makes it nearly impossible for transgender Michiganders to change […]

According to a Utah judge, foster children are better of with opposite-sex parents and, due to his unfounded belief, has removed the child they had planned to adopt from the home of Beckie Peirce and April Hoagland who are married. “We love her and she loves us, and we haven’t done anything wrong,” Peirce told the Salt Lake Tribune. “And […]

As I reported earlier this week, a group headed up by civil rights attorney Dana Nessel has formed to put civil rights for the LGBT community on the ballot in 2016. Nessel’s group, Fair Michigan, will submit petition language and then collect signatures for a ballot proposal that will enshrine civil rights like employment and housing equality in the state […]

As we all know by now, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette’s crusade against marriage equality ran up a multimillion dollar bill for Michigan taxpayers. Schuette’s office was ordered to pay the court costs and attorney fees for the Michigan defendants in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges marriage equality U.S. Supreme Court case totalling $1.9 million. This is addition to the […]