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Michigan's fight over LGBT civil rights heads to DC

Rainbow flag, often associated with the LGBT movement
User Marlith
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Flickr / http://michrad.io/1LXrdJM
LGBT rainbow flag flapping in the sun

Some Michigan activists are lobbying members of Congress to pass civil rights protections for LGBT people.

The Equality Act of 2015 would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Jami Contreras and her wife, Krista, are from Oak Park, Michigan.

They say their pediatrician refused to see their infant daughter because they are a lesbian couple.

Now they're in DC sharing their story.

"Literally everyday life is affected," says Jami Contreras. "We don't know where it's safe to go and where it's not safe to go in the public, and we just believe that is wrong. We could easily walk into any restaurant, grocery store, gas station and be asked to leave. And the business owner has a legal right to do that." 

Michigan's civil rights protections don't include sexual orientation.

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Kate Wells is a Peabody Award-winning journalist currently covering public health. She was a 2023 Pulitzer Prize finalist for her abortion coverage.
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