Leaders in local anti-discrimination movement still push for law, despite lawmaker's proposal
Leaders in the movement for an anti-discrimination law in Mount Pleasant say they’re not pressing the breaks on their efforts, despite last week’s introduction of a pro-gay rights measure to the Michigan Senate.
State Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, on Thursday proposed legislation that would amend Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, extending protection based on gender identity and sexual orientation.
Since November, when Mount Pleasant residents flooded a City Commission meeting, support for a local anti-discrimination ordinance has risen, and city officials have held two work sessions with city attorney Scott Smith to discuss establishing one.
The law proposed for the city would be all-inclusive, providing protection for several categories of people, including those excluded from the state’s civil rights act, in areas of housing, employment and accommodation.
Still, Mount Pleasant resident Norma Bailey, who’s acted as spokeswoman for the local movement, said they’ve no need to put a stop to the ordinance’s development.
“I think it’s very important to work at the local level,” she said. “You can’t change the whole world; you can change your world. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Only the beginning
Thursday was Warren’s second attempt in several years of amending the civil rights act to additionally include these protections, according to published reports.
Both media and a news release from the senator’s website last week have referenced increased support for gay and lesbian rights, citing it as motivation for reintroducing the measure.
Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan’s LGBT Project, agreed, saying “the overwhelming majority of Michiganders favor this kind” of protection. He has also assisted in Mount Pleasant’s anti-discrimination movement.
“The two of them go hand-in-hand together. The reality is that Sen. Warren has introduced this, but it’s the beginning of a local uphill battle,” Kaplan said. “It only strengthens (the argument with) our local officials that it’s an important thing to do.”
“I think if our elected officials look to see what the consensus is of Michigan residents,” he added, referencing polls, “they would know there’s support.”
Mount Pleasant’s district state Sen. Judy Emmons, R-Sheridan, said she hasn’t yet seen the language of Warren’s proposed amendment and couldn’t comment specifically on what she thought until she did.
“I wait to see how it’s written and what it covers,” she said. “I take that approach to everything. They can tell you what the conflict is and what they think it’s going to do, but sometimes the wording, it’s skewed a little bit.”
Kaplan said Warren’s motion was “heartening,” considering the number of “very anti-LGBT” legislation currently circulating in Lansing, such as those for a ban on domestic partner benefits and another proposed Elliott-Larsen amendment to stop local ordinances from superseding the act’s protections.
Bailey said she is not any less or more hopeful for the city’s developing an ordinance because of Warren’s proposal.
“My feeling is it’s not going to pass at the state level,” she said. “So we need to go on with this ordinance.”
At a March 12 work session, Smith told city commissioners he’d aim to have a draft ordinance finished by the first meeting in April. The agenda for April 9 has not yet been released.
