The Michigan Supreme Court won’t hear an appeal of a lower court decision that put a stop to a petition campaign. The campaign aimed to include LGBTQ protections in Michigan’s civil rights law.
That lets stand a ruling that the Fair and Equal Michigan campaign failed to gather enough signatures to initiate a law.
Spokesman Josh Hovey says the campaign will turn its attention to backing an opinion from state Attorney General Dana Nessel.
It says gender protections in the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act already offer protections against LGBTQ discrimination.
“And so we’ll be pushing the attorney general and working with our supporters to make sure that they’re supporting that case but we also need to get a deal done in the Legislature and finally amend Elliott-Larsen once and for all.”
Hovey says if those efforts fail, business groups that supported Fair and Equal Michigan could launch another petition drive.
“We can’t go any further than the Michigan Supreme Court and so we’re going to continue the fight in the Legislature. Elliott-Larsen still needs to be amended and LGBTQ people need to have equal rights.”
The Court of Claims ruled last December that there’s no implicit recognition of LGBTQ rights in the law.
