Democrats hope the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage will provide momentum for adding LGBT protections to Michigan’s civil rights law.
Ten Democrats have sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Arlan Meekhof (R-West Olive) asking him to hold a vote on Senate Bill 315.
They say the fact that Michiganders can be fired or denied housing for being gay reflects poorly on legislative leaders.
“It’s an embarrassment and people are laughing at them right now.
And if they keep it up, they’re going to laugh them right out of office,” said state Sen. Coleman Young (D-Detroit).
“We need to give people who are of the LGBTQ community the same rights as everybody else. They are part of our constitution and the great fabric of America. It’s just time.”
Young admits he’s not optimistic that will happen.
“It’s biblical – ask not, receive not,” he said. “This is about human rights. And you can’t put human rights before anything else right now. And right now we are depriving people of their humanity.”
Similar legislation died last year after disagreements about including transgender protections and pairing it with religious exceptions.
Here are links to the letter and the bill – http://media.mlive.com/lansing-news/other/senate-democrats-lgbt-protection-letter.pdf
