FRANKENLUST TOWNSHIP, MI — U.S. Rep Dan Kildee had strong words for Gov. Rick Snyder just one day after a lawyer made the case for the state of Michigan's current constitutional gay marriage ban in a federal appeals court.

"At virtually every level of the federal court system, there's been a recognition of full marriage equality," said Kildee, D-Flint Township. "This governor stands in the shoes of governors who have stood in the doorway of a schoolhouse and denied minority children access."

An official with Kildee's office clarified that the congressman was making reference to George Wallace, former governor of Alabama, who stood at a doorway on the campus of the University of Alabama to block black students from entry in 1963.

Kildee, on Thursday, Aug. 7, spoke at a round-table meeting of Great Lakes Bay Region leaders with an interest in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues at Delta College. The event welcomed a Bay County Commissioner, various faculty and staff from Delta College and Saginaw Valley State University — as well as students from the latter — and leaders in local LGBT advocacy groups.

The meeting, which ran for roughly an hour, gave about 10 attendees a chance to talk about issues ranging from HIV and AIDS research to gay marriage to employment protections for LGBT individuals.

Dave Murray, deputy press secretary for Snyder, said that the governor is bound to enforce the gay marriage ban because the law is part of Michigan's constitution and has not been changed by voters or the courts. Though the ban was overturned in March by a Detroit federal judge, Murray said, a stay against the ruling was successfully sought by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette and is currently in place, pending the ongoing appeal.

"The governor's role is to enforce the state constitution," Murray said, directing questions on the stay itself to the Attorney General's Office. "The governor has said that that is his job, and until the constitution is changed or until the courts determine otherwise, he has to follow the constitution."

Kildee's comments came one day following arguments made before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit in Cincinnati, Ohio, in an appeal case against the March overturning of Michigan's gay marriage ban. The court also heard gay marriage arguments from three other states that day, including Kentucky, Tennessee and Ohio.

Related: Split decision predicted in Michigan gay marriage appeal

Michigan's ban, in place since 2004, was installed by voters.

In an appeal brief filed in May, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said that the ban's removal by a federal court "denies each of those voters the dignity of a meaningful vote, labels each with the stigma of irrationality, and treats Michigan's electorate as incapable of deciding this profound and sensitive issue."

Kildee directed comments at both Snyder and Schuette.

"When have we ever allowed, as if it's an intellectual exercise, public officials to appeal the granting of rights to individuals?" Kildee asked. "We actually have statewide elected officials that are taking the position that we have to pull back rights that the federal courts have recognized."

Attendees of the round-table event also discussed the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, a Michigan law that provides employment protections based on race, sex and other personal qualities. Currently, Michigan does not offer employment protections for LGBT individuals.

Snyder has previously indicated that he hopes to see changes in the act discussed before the Legislature, and recently told Crain's Detroit Business that he "does not believe in discrimination."

Murray did not predict whether or not the governor would support those changes.

"The bill has not been presented to (Snyder) yet," Murray said. "He's open to a discussion with the Legislature. He's looking forward to seeing what might come from that body."

Bay County Commissioner Don Tilley, D-6th District and a guest at the round-table event, said he hopes Michigan's Republican-led Legislature doesn't use a partial change in the law — one that may leave transgender individuals out, for example — to win votes in advance of the November general election.

Bay County Commissioner Don Tilley, D-6th District

"I'm hoping that they're so far behind in the polls that they do the whole thing," he said, adding that he would hope to see a proposed partial change fail.

Charin Davenport, a transgender woman, activist and professor at Delta College and SVSU, was a principal organizer of Thursday's round table event.

Davenport previously met with Kildee in Washington, D.C., at a mid-July event designed to place lobbyists for transgender issues in contact with members of Congress. During that meeting, she said, she spoke with Kildee about the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act — or ENDA — which has the potential to extend employment protections to LGBT individuals around the country. She has since said she hopes to see the law passed without religious exemptions for private business owners and citizens.

The most important outcome of the meeting, she said, wasn't necessarily about national or state laws and policy, though she acknowledged Kildee's influence on both. Instead, she said she hopes to both foster a local movement to change city and municipal laws on LGBT issues, as well as start a conversation between Kildee and his constituents.

"It's a chance to get that discourse or that dialogue going," Davenport said of the meeting, "and hopefully we can maintain it."

— Sam Easter is a general assignment reporter for The Bay City Times. He can be reached at seaster@mlive.com.