Supporters of a ballot initiative to amend Michigan’s civil rights act to include protections for gender identity and sexual orientation began collecting signatures last week.
Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act of 1976 reaffirmed the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 and was eventually amended to include protections for discrimination based on height, weight and pregnancy.
In the 44 years since its passage, several attempts have been made to pass amendments that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination, especially in employment and housing. The latest to take up the mantle of this cause is Fair and Equal Michigan, which campaigned to put the initiative on the November ballot.
Drive collects thousands of signatures in first week
Josh Hovey, a vice president at the communications firm Martin Waymire, is spokesperson for the campaign.
“We’ve just started collecting signatures a week ago. We’ve collected 8,000 with not even a full campaign staff. We need to collect 340,047 by May 27 to get on the ballot.”
After May 27, the state will check whether the campaign collected enough signatures. If it has, the amendment will go before the legislature, which will have 40 days to either pass the initiative or do nothing. If it does nothing or rejects it, the amendment will go to voters in November. Hovey is optimistic about both scenarios.
“We’re hopeful the Legislature will take this opportunity to do the right thing,” Hovey said. “This amendment has been brought up for 37 years now. We’re fully prepared, though, to go to November and run a very robust public education campaign for Election Day if it comes to that. But, there’s no reason for legislators not to support it.”
As the petition has been rolled out, Hovey says the feedback he’s received has been overwhelmingly positive
“Our polling shows more than 80% of voters already believe LGBT discrimination is illegal,” Hovey said. “Many people are surprised to find out people can still be fired from their jobs for being gay or trans. When we explain it to them, they’re happy to sign a petition. We’ve been bombarded with people asking to help. We’re eager to build up our campaign.”
Group plans to work with college students
Hovey said that as the campaign expands, there are plans to engage college students across the state.
“We’ll have a very robust college campus network,” Hovey said. “Equality Michigan and Fair Michigan — our stakeholders — will help. So will large employers like DTE and Consumers Energy, who are having an internal petition drive as well. It’s really just a lot of grassroots organizing and using our community organizations to get out and collect signatures.”
MSU student and Alliance of Queer and Ally Students executive board member Jacintha Glover expressed her thoughts on the opinion.
“I want it to happen,” Glover said. “I don’t think it’s going to help socially, but it will help for employment. It’s still not educating people on anything. People who discriminate aren’t going to have their opinions change, they’ll just find out what they’re doing is illegal.”
“These issues are the most important ones facing young people,” Glover said. “It’s socioeconomic. You need housing and a job, and the more that you’re out there in jobs, the more you can change minds..”
Michigan Episcopal Diocese supports initiative
The Michigan Episcopal Diocese supports r the initiative. The Rev. Donna McNeil is the campus missioner for All Saints Episcopal Church in East Lansing and says support of this petition drive is in line with Episcopal beliefs.
I think it’s fabulous,” McNeil said. “I made vows to respect the dignity of every human being. Everything I know about sexual orientation, my own and others’, is that we are created this way by God. I never chose to be straight. There’s not one moment where I thought, ‘I’ll be straight.’ It’s the same with gender. I never chose to be a woman. It’s just who I was. If that’s who God made them, then I made vows to love and respect them.”
The Michigan Episcopal Diocese made history last week, when it ordained its first woman and openly lesbian bishop, Dr. Bonnie Perry. The Episcopal Church performs gay marriages and allows LGBTQ involvement in all areas of ministry. On whether or not she thought the amendment could call religious freedom into question, McNeil said she was confident it would not.
“It’s not an issue of religious freedom,” McNeil said. “We have religious freedom protected by the Constitution. No one is going to say the Catholic Church has to ordain gay people or perform gay marriages. That’s true legally and in religious law… No one is going to make the Catholic Church marry gay people aside from, possibly, Roman Catholics.”
Hovey reiterated many of the same sentiments as McNeil.
“Religious institutions are already exempted from the Michigan civil rights law,” Hovey said. “Catholic schools already can fire people for anything that goes against their beliefs. We’re just saying that nonreligious institutions cannot behave like religious institutions and must treat everyone equally. Religious organizations can rest assured this won’t change how they operate.”