Michigan LGBTQ bills have failed for decades — but this year could be different

A broad coalition of business leaders, politicians and social justice advocates filed language with the state Board of Canvassers on Tuesday to expand Michigan’s Elliott Larsen Civil Rights Act to include a ban on discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

The Fair and Equal Michigan committee has until May 27 to collect at least 340,047 signatures from valid registered voters in the state to qualify for the 2020 ballot. If it gets the signatures, the question also could go to the Legislature, which could pass the measure and it would automatically become law; offer its own version of the measure, or do nothing and the proposal would head to the ballot.

It’s unlikely that the Legislature, where Republicans hold majorities in both the House of Representatives and Senate, would take up that issue.

Bills to expand the Elliott Larsen act to include protections for the LGBTQ community have been proposed in every legislative session for at least two decades and even former Republican Gov. Rick Snyder supported the expansion. But the measures have never gotten a vote in either chamber.

More: Civil rights commission rejects AG opinion on LGBT discrimination

More: AG Dana Nessel to reconsider LGBTQ rights protections

An effort to get a constitutional amendment on the 2016 ballot fizzled after different groups couldn’t reach a consensus on the timing of the proposal.

But this year is different, said former state Rep. Mel Larsen. The Oakland County Republican and former chairman of the Michigan Republican Party first sponsored Michigan’s civil rights act in 1973 to prohibit discrimination in housing and hiring based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status. The bill ultimately passed in 1976.

“It is long past the time to recognize sexual orientation and gender identity,” Larsen said. “The Legislature can act at any time to amend the civil rights act. This coalition of Michigan citizens has support across LGBTQ groups, the business and philanthropic sectors, and both sides of the political aisle. There is more that brings us together than forces us apart.”

Also on the ballot proposal committee are leaders of DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, the Herman Miller furniture company, the AFL-CIO, Verizon Communications, Dow, Apple and Whirlpool.

“Business leaders know that to stay competitive, we need to support the people we employ, and that means making clear that there is no place for discrimination in the workplace,” said Jerry Norcia, president and chief executive officer at DTE Energy. “Today’s top job creators are looking to grow in states and communities that are welcoming to everyone. If Michigan wants to compete, we must take a clear stand against discrimination in any form.”

Virtually every LGBTQ advocacy group has signed on to the effort, as have former and current lawmakers and political leaders from both the Republican and Democratic parties.

“It is my hope and expectation that by banning this kind of discrimination, all Michiganders can lead safer, more productive lives, and our state will be made better for it.”said Alanna Maguire, president of Fair Michigan, a statewide LGBTQ and women’s advocacy group

The campaign to get the issue before Michigan voters is the next step in the protracted fight for LGBTQ protections. With just four days left in office in 2018, Snyder signed an executive order providing protections from some discrimination for the LGBTQ community.

His order to all state departments prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in procurement contracts, as well as loan and grant programs.

But at the same time, Michigan had barred the Michigan Civil Rights Commission from taking calls reporting LGBTQ discrimination to its hotline.

That changed after Dana Nessel was elected Michigan’s attorney general in 2018. In June 2019, she reversed an opinion from former Attorney General Bill Schuette that stated the commission couldn’t investigate civil rights cases that were based on LGBTQ discrimination. The commission now is reviewing cases of reported discrimination.

The group has a head start in soliciting donations for the campaign, said Josh Hovey, a spokesman for the group.

"It costs about $3 million to put an issue on the ballot with paid circulators collecting signatures," he said. "But the campaign has about half of that committed by individuals and corporate sponsors."

If it ends up on the ballot in a contentious presidential year, however, the actual campaign could cost much more.

With the current question, the Board of Canvassers will meet at some point in the near future to consider the language on the petition, which reads:

“An initiation of legislation to amend the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. The initiated law would extend the Act’s prohibitions on discriminatory practices, policies, and customs in the exercise of civil rights to prohibit discrimination based upon ( ) sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression, or ( ) the religious beliefs of an individual, by defining “sex” to include gender, sexual orientation, and gender identity or expression, and “religion” as including the religious beliefs of an individual.”

Contact Kathleen Gray: 313-223-4430, kgray99@freepress.com or on Twitter @michpoligal.