The following guest post was written by my friend Jen Eyer, Vice President of Vanguard Public Affairs. Jen has spent many years in the world of journalism and most recently managed the newsroom for The Ann Arbor News, part of the MLive Media Group. You can read her full bio HERE. This piece was first published at the Vanguard Public […]

Michigan Attorney General has a long history of being on the wrong side of issues that matter most to the citizens of our state, something I have documented extensively here at Eclectablog (HERE and HERE, for example.) This week, he’s back in the news with more of his hypocrisy and wrong-headedness. First, Schuette issued a press release saying that he’s […]

This transgender teen is thriving in a nurturing school environment. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. When he was in 10th grade, Reid Ellefson-Frank realized he could no longer stay at the public school he attended. He had come out as transgender to his parents at the end of […]

Early this month, in a piece about Republican attacks on State Board of Education President John Austin, I noted that State Senator Tom Casperson was moving forward with introducing one of his own here in Michigan. Sure enough, as he promised, today that bill was introduced as Senate Bill 993. In that piece, I also said this: Sen. Casperson’s yet-to-be-introduced […]

The national discussion of “bathroom bills” like North Carolina’s H.B. 2 is everywhere. Every time you turn on a news program or open the newspaper, it’s there. The discussion mainly focuses on how it aimed at transgender Americans, which it is, in part. But what’s often missing in the discussion is how this isn’t based on any facts related to […]

Today, The U.S. Departments of Education and Justice released a joint guidance to help provide educators the information they need to provide all students, including transgender students, a school environment that is safe and welcoming. The guidance is not legally binding but it makes clear that the Obama administration sees anti-transgender rules, regulations, and laws in violation of federal law […]

State Board of Education President John Austin, photo by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog In December of last year, Rick Joseph, the 2015 Michigan Teacher of the Year and self-described “former homophobe”, approached State Board of Education president John Austin asking if he’d be interested in developing guidelines for Michigan school administrators when it comes to making the school environment […]

This transgender teen knows he has the kind of support every trans person should have. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. At age 17, Hunter Keith has more confidence and poise than some people twice his age. Maybe that’s because he already knows who he is, and he has […]

I remember it like it was yesterday. June 21, 1996. My mom came home from work and asked me for a favor. Her boss’s son was going to be on TV, and since neither of them knew how to use the VCR to tape something she asked me to do it. Her boss (at the time) is the mother of […]

This transgender woman helps the community speak for themselves. This is part of a story series about the lives of transgender people. Read the introduction here. Bré Anne Campbell doesn’t want to see another trans woman of color murdered. It’s a sobering problem across the country, but especially in Detroit, where Michigan’s lack of anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people often […]

The following guest post was written by my friend Chris Armstrong, Partnerships and Government Affairs Director for Small Business Majority. Chris was the former student body president of University of Michigan and experienced first hand the corrosive impacts of anti-gay bigotry at the hands of former state Assistant Attorney General Andrew Shirvell who stalked and harassed him during his time […]