Last week, Governor Snyder pretended that he’s suddenly concerned with adding protections for LGBT folks to our state’s civil rights law, the Elliott-Larsen Act. As I have already said, this is a sham. Governor Snyder’s own words show how squishy his “support” is: “I’m encouraging them to say there’s been a lot of dialog and discussion on this. It’s been […]

Yesterday at the Mackinac Policy Conference on Mackinac Island, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder did an about-face on his position regarding civil rights for members of the LGBT community. His actions or, rather, lack of actions on behalf of the LGBT community are well-known so the abrupt change is cause for considerable skepticism. Snyder spelled out his new-found interest in LGBT […]

There’s something going on that is truly amazing: Rick Snyder is slowly transforming into his Democratic opponent Mark Schauer on major issues voters are concerned about right now. First it was raising the minimum wage. One day he’s saying it would harm the economy and wasn’t important to him. The next day he’s signing legislation into law that is almost […]

Many of us in the progressive arena advocate passionately for LGBT civil rights. And right we should; it is literally the civil rights struggle of our time. Interestingly and unfortunately, LGBT rights have become mainly synonymous with civil rights for gay and lesbian men and women. Bisexuals like myself often aren’t taken seriously by straight or queer people and we […]

Last year, Governor Snyder was asked about revising Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to extend coverage to members of the LGBT community. The fact that it currently doesn’t means that people like me can be fired from our jobs simply because we are gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Governor Snyder’s response was, in effect, “it’s not on my agenda” and […]

Now let’s just call it “marriage” THIS is fantastic news: Federal Judge Timothy Black says he will issue a ruling April 14 striking down Ohio’s gay marriage ban passed by voters in 2004. Attorney Al Gerhardstein, representing plaintiffs in a lawsuit about birth certificates, amended his request to ask Black to declare all aspects of Ohio’s gay marriage ban unconstitutional. […]

Hallelujah! Photo by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog The nearly 300 same-sex couples who were married last Saturday in Michigan will have their marriages recognized by the federal government. The Snyder administration has said that they will NOT recognize them or give the couples the benefits afforded heterosexual married couples even though they believe the marriages are legal. The […]

We shall know you by the company that you keep As Michigan Attorney General and 2018 gubernatorial candidate Bill Schuette continues his crusade to deny gay and lesbian couples their civil rights and equality under state law, he finds himself with interesting company. It turns out the white nationalist Kyle Bristow has filed an amicus brief (pdf) in support of […]

Pretzel logic at its finest This afternoon Governor Snyder acknowledged that the nearly 300 same-sex marriages that were performed last Saturday are legal. He then said his administration won’t recognize them. With respect to the marriages, we believe those are legal and valid marriages. The stay being issued makes it more complicated. Because of the stay, we won’t recognize the […]

I’m verklempt April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, the Michigan lesbian couple whose lawsuit against the state of Michigan led to the overturning of our state’s discriminatory same-sex marriage ban weren’t notified of the District Court Judge Bernard Friedman’s decision ahead of time. Instead, like the rest of us, they and their attorney Dana Nessel had to wait until it was […]

Republicans on the wrong side of history yet again Governor Rick Snyder is refusing to recognize over 300 same-sex marriages that took place on Saturday. None of the rights and privileges extended to heterosexual married couples will be given to these newlyweds as Gov. Snyder and Attorney General Bill Schuette pander to their homophobic base in an election year. Unfortunately […]