LANSING - Michigan House Speaker Jase Bolger says he hasn’t decided how to proceed on the question of possibly protecting gays in the state’s anti-discrimination law.

Bolger, R-Marshall, says it’s a “struggle” to reach a decision on how gays might be addressed in the state’s Elliott-Larsen anti-discrimination law.

The law now has language aimed at preventing discrimination in housing, employment and other areas based on religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status.

Should the language be expanded or altered to somehow include sexual orientation? Bolger told MLive this week that he is researching the issue and hasn’t yet reached a conclusion. But he said he’s wrestling with the issue as a Catholic, father and lawmaker – and his decision would try to balance individual and religious rights.

“I want to respect gay individuals. I don’t want to send a message as a society that we are intolerant," Bolger said. "I think that we need to respect people who are different from us, whether they’re different because they believe differently, whether they’re different because they have different skin color, or whether they’re different because they’re straight or gay. The other side of that equation is I also want to respect people’s religious beliefs. And that’s where the struggle really comes in. I want to respect gay people, I want to respect people who have deeply held religious beliefs.

“And so legally – as a lawmaker now – you go back and you look at Elliott-Larsen," Bolger continued. "And it gets very difficult to try to balance those two. And that encapsulates the struggle. The struggle is how do we respect individuals on both sides of this question. I want to respect the individual rights of someone who’s gay. And I also, in doing that, don’t want to force somebody to ignore or violate their religious beliefs.”

Democrats have often introduced bills to expand protections in the Elliott-Larsen Act based on sexual orientation. Sen. Rebekah Warren, D-Ann Arbor, said she expects to do so again this term.

“It’s the one category still here in Michigan where you can be denied housing or fired from your employment based on a characteristic or a quality,” Warren said.

Warren said adding sexual orientation to the list of protected characteristics in Elliott-Larsen would provide “important, immediate protections for people in their real, everyday lives.”

It’s now on the radar screen of at least some Republicans.

Rep. Frank Foster, R-Petoskey, issued a statement last week regarding the potential addition of sexual orientation language to the act. "The response to adding a protection like this has been overwhelmingly positive so far, so we are taking a close look at how best to proceed," Foster said. "We're not at the point where we're ready to talk specific legislation or timelines, but it's important to keep having these conversations with people back home and among our colleagues."

Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville, R-Monroe, has said he anticipates an Elliott-Larsen discussion.

Many Republican leaders – including Bolger – consider gay marriage to be a separate issue from the Elliott-Larsen act. Republican leaders have been clear they don't plan to take legislative action on a proposal from Senate Democrats aimed at overturning Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage.

Michigan voters in 2004 approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

Some Republicans say that since citizens mounted the petition drive that put the marriage amendment before voters in 2004, efforts to repeal it should also be left to a citizen drive.

The Associated Press has reported a citizen drive aimed at allowing gay marriage could be undertaken to target the 2016 election.

Email Tim Martin at tmartin4@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter: @TimMartinMI