Tag: LGBT rights

BREAKING: Speaker Jase Bolger says expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act will not happen during lame duck

BREAKING: Speaker Jase Bolger says expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act will not happen during lame duck

Reliable sources in Lansing have informed me that expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act is dead in the water in 2014 and will not be voted on during the lame duck session. According to the source, Republican House Speaker Jase Bolger says neither version of the expansion bill – one that includes transgender Michiganders and one that doesn’t – […]

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BREAKING: Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act expansion hearing adjourns without hearing personal testimony from the LGBT community (updated x2)

BREAKING: Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act expansion hearing adjourns without hearing personal testimony from the LGBT community (updated x2)

This post has been updated as indicated This morning, a hearing was held in Lansing to debate the expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. After hearing from members of the business community testifying in favor of the legislation, faith-based groups both in favor of and opposing adding civil rights protections for the LGBT community, the House Commerce Committee adjourned […]

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Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wants to turn Michigan into a southern state (Michissippi? Alabamigan?)

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette wants to turn Michigan into a southern state (Michissippi? Alabamigan?)

Unfair as it may be, there are certain things we northerners think of when you think of southern states. The first is bigotry and intolerance. Another is a near worshipful devotion to guns and anything related to guns. Hunting is part of it but just walking around with a big weapon strapped to your body is a much bigger part […]

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Michigan AG Bill Schuette continues his bigoted crusade against marriage equality using our tax dollars

Michigan AG Bill Schuette continues his bigoted crusade against marriage equality using our tax dollars

There is one thing that Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has in common with April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, the two women who are challenging Michigan’s bigoted same-sex marriage ban: they both want their case to go to the Supreme Court of the United States as quickly as possible. The difference is that Bill Schuette is using our tax dollars […]

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As Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban heads to Supreme Court, AG Schuette says married same-sex couples aren’t married

As Michigan’s same-sex marriage ban heads to Supreme Court, AG Schuette says married same-sex couples aren’t married

Evolution is tough for bigots. They struggle as the world around them changes and evolves and becomes better, more accepting of people who are different than them. Chauvinists struggled with the women’s suffrage movement in the early part of the 20th Century and then again during the fight for equality in the latter half of the 20th Century. Racists struggled […]

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Michigan GOP can’t bring itself to give civil rights protections to ALL Michiganders, leave transgender people behind

Michigan GOP can’t bring itself to give civil rights protections to ALL Michiganders, leave transgender people behind

Back in September, I wrote about how Michigan Republicans, facing massive pressure from across the state – including from the business community they worship with such reverance – started discussing updating the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include civil rights protections for the LGB community. They had no intention, I had heard at the time, of including protections for “gender […]

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GUEST POST: The stark contrast between Rick Snyder and Mark Schauer on marriage equality

GUEST POST: The stark contrast between Rick Snyder and Mark Schauer on marriage equality

This post was written by my dear friend Amy Hunter. Amy and I have known each other for several years thanks to Facebook and Twitter but only met in person for the first time this past summer at the Netroots Nation conference where we appeared on Lizz Winstead’s “Morning News Dump” together. Amy is President and Chair of the Kalamazoo […]

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UPDATED: Dem candidate for Michigan’s 93rd House District sends epic response to anti-gay hate group

UPDATED: Dem candidate for Michigan’s 93rd House District sends epic response to anti-gay hate group

UPDATE: Josh Derke now has a fundraising page up at JoshDerke.ruck.us. Please support this incredible Democrat. You’ve probably heard of the Westboro Baptist Church and their hideously offensive protests. You may not have heard, however, of the Public Advocate of the United States. Public Advocate has been rightfully designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center and […]

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Michigan insurers are denying transgender people coverage for necessary medical care

Michigan insurers are denying transgender people coverage for necessary medical care

Advocates are working to get the same services covered for trans men and women that are covered for everyone else. Jay Maddock has known he was a man for most of his life, even though that’s not the body he was born with. At age five, he told his dad he wanted to be a man, and was fortunate to […]

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Will the Michigan GOP sacrifice LGBT civil rights on the altar of “deeply held religious beliefs”?

Will the Michigan GOP sacrifice LGBT civil rights on the altar of “deeply held religious beliefs”?

Last week, Governor Snyder pretended that he’s suddenly concerned with adding protections for LGBT folks to our state’s civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Act. As I have already said, this is a sham. Governor Snyder’s own words show how squishy his “support” is: “I’m encouraging them to say there’s been a lot of dialog and discussion on this. It’s been […]

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Gov. Rick Snyder’s new-found concern for LGBT civil rights is a sham

Gov. Rick Snyder’s new-found concern for LGBT civil rights is a sham

Yesterday at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did an about-face on his position regarding civil rights for members of the LGBT community. His actions or, rather, lack of actions on behalf of the LGBT community are well-known so the abrupt change is cause for considerable skepticism. Snyder spelled out his new-found interest in LGBT […]

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