Civil Rights Commission’s Interpretation of Law Is ‘Invalid’ Declares Anti-Gay Republican
The top law enforcement officer for the State of Michigan this past week issued a binding opinion that the state’s civil rights laws do not extend to LGBT people. Attorney General Bill Schuette, who has a long history of using his office to further his anti-LGBT agenda, is a Republican running to become Michigan’s next governor.
“The word ‘sex’ refers to the biological difference between males and females and not to the distinct concepts of sexual orientation or gender identity,” Schuette wrote in his opinion.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission voted in May that the state’s anti-discrimination law related to sex discrimination should include LGBT people, as federal courts and federal agencies have begun to do. That move protects people from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification in areas including employment, education, housing, real estate, public accommodations, and public service.
Attorney General Schuette of Friday issued an opinion that is generally considered binding on state agencies that the Civil Rights Commission’s interpretation is “invalid.” He claims the original intent of state lawmakers when the passed the law in 1976 was not to protect LGBT people.
“This means LGBTQ Michiganders still can be fired from their job and denied housing and public services,” Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, told The Detroit Free Press.
Many generally consider “original intent” to be simply a tactic used by conservatives to limit civil rights advances as human understanding grows over time.
Schuette, a Trump-supporter endorsed by the president and the vice president, is running for governor. On his campaign website he boasts an A+ rating from the NRA, and proclaims, “I’m a fighter with the guts and the vision to write our next chapter.”
Schuette is the favorite in the August 7 GOP primary. But polling shows the Democratic favorite beating Schuette by about 5 points, according to Real Clear Politics.
In 2015 Attorney General Bill Schuette and Michigan’s GOP Republican Governor Rick Snyder waged war against two pediatric nurses who wanted to marry so they both could legally adopt their special needs children they were caring for, including one doctors thought would never survive but did. Schuette nd Snyder battled same-sex marriage all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, spending at least $1.9 million of taxpayers’ money.
One of Schuette’s expert witnesses, a professor who has ties to NOM, the National Organization For Marriage, told a federal court he believes gay people are going to hell.
Schuette also offered up Mark Regnerus, author of a massively discredited “study” that falsely claimed to find children raised by same-sex parents grow up with a host of problems not seen by their peers raised by different-sex couples. The judge tossed his testimony out.
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Hat tip: Joe.My.God.