Michigan Bill to Bar Gay Discrimination Under Fire

LANSING - Republicans on Wednesday proposed a long-awaited bill to prohibit discrimination against gays, though chances dimmed for legislative approval of the measure because of concerns that transgender people would not be protected.

Sponsored by outgoing Rep. Frank Foster of Petoskey and backed by House Speaker Jase Bolger, the bill would update Michigan's civil rights law to include sexual orientation but not - as gay rights advocates and Democrats want - gender identity. Under state law, it is illegal to discriminate based on religion, race, sex and other factors in employment, housing, public accommodations, schools and colleges.

Foster, who lost his seat in the primary election, has been a champion on the issue.

Another newly introduced measure with better odds in the GOP-controlled Legislature is a Michigan version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which prohibits the government from burdening the exercise of religion without a compelling interest.

"Nobody should be discriminated against based on their sexual orientation or religious beliefs," Bolger, the bill's sponsor, told reporters.

A coalition of business leaders and others has been lobbying to add legal protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as a way to attract talent to Michigan. Democrats in September introduced legislation to do so when Republicans delayed their own bills, in part because of a dispute over whether to include both sexual orientation and gender identity protections.

Bolger, of Marshall, said an existing prohibition against sex-based discrimination already shields transgender residents.

However, critics, including Democrats whose votes likely would be needed to send an anti-gay discrimination bill to Republican Gov. Rick Snyder, said it should be "fully inclusive" of the LGBT community.

"To bring forward a bill that doesn't do that is setting us backwards, and I'd rather us take this to the vote of the people if this Legislature is not courageous enough to do the right thing," said Rep. Sam Singh, D-East Lansing.

The two GOP bills are not tied together, which means Republicans could still approve the religious liberty legislation if the sexual orientation measure stalls.

Bolger said a state religious freedom measure is needed because the federal law does not apply to laws or government action at the state or local level.

"It provides a balance ... so that people are not given the license to discriminate but people are not forced to violate their religious beliefs," Bolger said.

He sought to pre-empt a national backlash against his bill similar to what was seen in Arizona, where Republican Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation that would have expanded protections in the state's Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

Bolger said Arizona lawmakers tried to expand an existing religious liberty law without providing civil rights protections for gays and that the Arizona legislation would have gone further than what he is proposing.

Progress Michigan, a liberal advocacy group, accused Bolger of "endorsing the use of religion to discriminate." The Michigan Catholic Conference, applauding Bolger, said religious liberty should be a priority because of "the increased level of hostility and intolerance toward faith-based institutions and persons."

Two House committees will consider the bills in December, when the lame-duck session is expected to intensify.

The governor has stopped short of specifically backing an update of the 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, but his request that legislators debate the issue has been seen as a positive sign by advocates.