Activists gathered 500,000 signatures to force Michigan’s legislature to vote on LGBTQ civil rights

State of Michigan
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

LGBTQ advocates in Michigan are trying to get civil rights protections passed in that state through a massive petition drive, and they might actually succeed.

A coalition of 37 organizations led by Fair and Equal Michigan say they have gathered 530,000 signatures for a petition to have the state legislature vote on a law that would define “sex” in state anti-discrimination legislation to include sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.

Related: Transgender man named Michigan Teacher of the Year

The state of Michigan never passed a law that would outlaw discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Instead, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission decided in 2018 that it would treat anti-LGBTQ discrimination as a form of sex-based discrimination.

But mere months later, the state’s then-Attorney General Bill Schuette (R) issued a legal opinion that declared the commission’s decision “invalid.”

So the organizations are taking matters into their own hands and…

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