Earlier this month I wrote about a woman in Midland who had her Planet Fitness membership cancelled because she spent her days in their gym warning anyone who would listen that Planet Fitness had a “No Judgment Zone” policy that permitted a transgender woman to enter the women’s locker room. Keep in mind that their locker rooms have private changing […]

One year ago today, Anne and I spent an extraordinary day at the County Clerk’s offices in Washtenaw and Oakland counties, watching as some of the 300+ same-sex couples were legally married for the first time in our state’s history. You can revisit that day with us in the post (HERE) that we put up featuring many of Anne’s outstanding […]

When your fellow Republicans vote to enshrine discrimination into law, it’s not a week to brag about the state. So there I was, minding my own business late Friday afternoon, when an email from Governor Rick Snyder’s office showed up in my inbox. It wouldn’t be remarkable except for the subject line: “A great week for the state of Michigan” […]

Bills pass 65-44 with immediate effect, proving that the legislation’s supporters can’t wait to hate. Despite the passionate, well-reasoned arguments of opponents, a package of discriminatory adoption bills passed the Michigan House on Wednesday and were given immediate effect. House Bills 4188-4190 allow faith-based adoption agencies to place their religious views above the best interests of children in need — […]

The package of bills would let taxpayer-funded adoption agencies deny adoption based on moral or religious beliefs. Speak out against discrimination today. Michigan Republicans seem hell-bent on passing as much religious-based discrimination legislation as quickly as possible. By Wednesday, the House will vote on a package of bills that would let faith-based adoption agencies deny an adoption placement based on […]

If it becomes law, any healthcare provider or payer could turn away any patient based on personal or organizational beliefs. With so much work to be done to make Michigan a better place to work and live, you’d think legislators would have more important things to do than enact laws that are nothing more than a license to discriminate using […]

This is the feel good story of the month so far. Planet Fitness, a national chain of fitness clubs, has a the motto “Judgement Free Zone”. So, when one of their members in Midland, Michigan complained (and complained and complained) that a trans* woman was using the women’s locker room, they reluctantly took action. The action was to tell the […]

Catholic health systems aren’t always held to the same medical standards as secular hospitals. This is the third post in an ongoing series. You can read the other installments HERE. When you go to a hospital, you have a reasonable expectation that you’ll receive the care you need — whoever you are, whatever your circumstances. After all, there’s a reason […]

As religious groups across the nation lobby to have new laws passed to ensure their right to discriminate against the LGBT community, Democrats and even some Republicans are moving to ensure the LGBT kids, at least, are protected from bullying and violence. The only new Democrat in the U.S. Senate after the 2014 election is Michigan’s own Gary Peters. Peters […]

Last year, nearly 300 same-sex couples took advantage of a one-day window of opportunity to legally marry in the state of Michigan. It was a joyous day which Anne and I documented with words and emotional photos HERE. While the federal government via Attorney General Eric Holder quickly affirmed that the federal government would recognize the marriages as legal, the […]

“What the state has joined together, it may not put asunder.” Connie Greer and Diane VanDorn of Ann Arbor (formerly Dexter). Read about their story HERE. In a huge rebuke to Gov. Rick Snyder, Attorney General Bill Schuette, and anti-LGBT homophobes in Michigan, a federal judge today ruled that the state of Michigan must recognize the marriages of the nearly […]