Gov. Whitmer signs bill expanding Michigan civil rights law to include LGBTQ protections

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer on Thursday expanded the state's civil rights law to bar discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, a change long sought by LGBTQ advocates.

Previous bills to add protections for the LGBTQ community to prohibit discrimination in housing, employment, education and public accommodations stalled under GOP control of the Legislature. They were among the first reintroduced at the start of this year's legislative session in which Democrats hold majorities in both the state House and Senate.

Whitmer called it a "new day in Michigan" that's "been a long time coming" during a signing ceremony Thursday.

"Michigan is a state where we stand up for people's fundamental freedoms," she said. "I am so proud to be here, and I’m excited to put our state on the right side of history."

State Sen. Jeremy Moss, D-Southfield, who introduced the bill — Senate Bill 4 — has described the effort to expand Michigan's Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) as a 50-year journey after previous efforts to include LGBTQ individuals in the 1976 law languished in Lansing.

"This baton has been passed generation to generation," Moss said. "This moment is so long overdue, and too many suffered on the journey to get here."

"For them and for us, this day has finally arrived. Equal protection under the law."

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Every Democratic lawmaker voted in support of SB 4, along with three Republican lawmakers in the state Senate and eight in the state House.

Since her first term in office, Whitmer has called for lawmakers to expand the state's civil rights law to include protections for Michigan's LGBTQ community.

SB 4 would essentially codify Michigan court rulings that found that the state's civil rights law offers protections for LGBTQ individuals. The Michigan Court of Claims ruled in December 2020 that the civil rights law prohibits discrimination on the basis of gender identity while the Michigan Supreme Court ruled last year that it bars discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

"That was an incredibly important win," said Attorney General Dana Nessel. But she said that until Thursday, Michigan has never passed a law to enshrine the legal rights of the LGBTQ community.

Proponents of expanding ELCRA to add specific protections for LGBTQ individuals in the law say the change is needed to prevent a future court from reaching a different conclusion.

"With a law in place that explicitly mandates that LGBTQ people are to be treated with dignity and fairness under ELCRA's umbrella, a negative court ruling in the future cannot wipe out important progress that has been made," said Jay Kaplan, the staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan's LGBTQ+ Project, during a Feb. 2 Senate Civil Rights, Judiciary and Public Safety Committee hearing.

Expanding ELCRA to include LGBTQ protections has also garnered the support of Michigan's business community. During her State of the State address, Whitmer pitched the legislation as a way for Michigan to gain an economic edge over competing states.

"Protecting these freedoms is the right thing to do and it's just good economics," she said. "States with extreme laws are losing talent and investment because you know what? Bigotry is bad for business."

Clara Hendrickson fact-checks Michigan issues and politics as a corps member with Report for America, an initiative of The GroundTruth Project. Make a tax-deductible contribution to support her work at bit.ly/freepRFA. Contact her at [email protected] or 313-296-5743. Follow her on Twitter @clarajanehen.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Whitmer adds LGBTQ protections to Michigan civil rights law