EDITORIAL: Michigan’s Legislative Witch Hunt

ANN ARBOR IS one of 38 municipalities in Michigan whose locally-elected officials have passed non-discrimination ordinances. Republican Rep. Earl Poleski is peddling House Bill 4052, the “Local Government Employer Mandate Prohibition Act,” dubbed by opponents the “Death Star” bill. The measure, if passed, would limit the ability of local governments to adopt, enforce, or administer certain local mandates for employers, specifically those protecting LGBT workers.

Despite Gov. Snyder’s May 2014 election year push for the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 to be updated to offer protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, it has not been updated. Sen. Rebekah Warren (D-Ann Arbor) has multiple times introduced bills to amend the Act to include protections for sexual orientation only to see her efforts stymied by her Republican colleagues.

Rep. Poleski’s bill as well as the Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act” (HB 5958) and a bill which would allow faith-based adoption agencies to refuse to serve prospective parents who are gay, are shameful efforts to target gays and to legalize discrimination.

This legislative witch hunt began shortly after Gov. Snyder assumed office. He signed legislation which stripped a handful of state employees and their families of same-sex benefits. This June, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments from our state’s Attorney General in support of Michigan’s gay marriage ban. We can only hope that, as with Loving v. Virginia—which invalidated laws prohibiting interracial marriage—the justices will drag Michigan’s governor and his GOP colleagues out of the Eisenhower era.