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Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is about to sign a historic LGBTQ+ anti-discrimination law, making hers the first U.S. state to pass such protections in nearly 3 years. The victory comes after Republican legislators spent 4 decades blocking the legal protections.
The law will add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA), helping protect LGBTQ+ people against discrimination in the fields of education, employment, housing, and public accommodations.
The bill’s gay sponsor Sen. Jeremy Moss (D) said that Republicans had blocked such protections from going into law for decades. Republican opponents of the bill said it would force secular views on religious citizens. They even tried to carve out exceptions into Moss’ bill that would’ve allowed religious business owners to discriminate on the basis of “sincerely held beliefs,” but these efforts failed before the bill passed in a 64-45 House vote on Wednesday.
Democrats gained full control of the legislature in January, helping pave the way to the law’s passage.
In a tweet celebrating the House vote, Whitmer wrote, “I’m proud that we’re finally in a position to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect LGBTQ+ Michiganders. Let’s get it done!”
The bill also passed after years of court battles over whether ELCRA already protects LGBTQ+ citizens. A 2020 Michigan Court of Claims ruling said it didn’t, but a July 2022 Michigan Supreme Court ruling said that it did. The Supreme Court case tried to determine whether the religious owners of a wedding venue and hair removal business could legally refuse service to a same-sex couple and a trans client, respectively.
In a statement, Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson said, “We’re seeing history in the making here in Michigan. Extremist legislators tried to fearmonger people into believing a false narrative last fall, but they failed because Michiganders know better. The people of Michigan could not be fooled and they have organized over decades for this moment.”
“ELCRA will not only protect LGBTQ+ people here in Michigan, its passage will send a message across our nation that when we organize — when we come together as a community — we will and do achieve progress,” Robinson continued. “We will continue to take this fight to each and every state that tries to deny LGBTQ+ people their rightful place in society.”
The Trevor Project’s advocacy campaign manager Gwen Stembridge wrote, “By codifying non-discrimination protections into state law, Michigan brings us one step closer to creating a society where LGBTQ young people never have to fear being turned away from a business or told they cannot participate in an activity or enter a public space just because of who they are or who they love,”
Stembridge added that the bill is also a welcome “beacon of hope” considering the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ bills that Republican legislators have introduced nationwide this year.
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