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Michigan Senate Does Not Vote On Harmful Legislation

BY AJ Trager

Michigan residents hold signs up during the Ferndale Rally held on Dec. 18. BTL Photo: AJ Trager


LANSING – The Michigan lame duck session came to a close early Friday morning without a vote on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) or the bill that would have allowed adoption agencies to deny same-sex couples the freedom to adopt or foster children who are in need of a home.
The RFRA, bill 5958, was authored by House Speaker Jase Bolger (R) and passed out of the state house on Dec. 4. Since then the LGBT community has been standing on edge waiting to hear that the bill, known as a "license to discriminate," would not continue forward onto Gov. Snyder's desk in the 2014 legislative cycle.
Community organizers held two rallies the past week in protest of the bill, Dec. 16 in Lansing and Dec. 18 in Ferndale. Dozens gathered before the Ferndale Public Library bringing with them picket signs and loud voices.
"Freedom comes with responsibility. Freedom is not: do whatever you want, but also to respect others and their freedom rights," Lui Francesco said. "This bill is disguised as a Trojan horse."
Francesco is a member of a community of young, reform-minded Catholics who support to discern and share faith for a more just world. He spoke about his faith and about how Jesus preached about love.
Many faith leaders from around Metro Detroit who gathered spoke towards their acceptance of the LGBT community, their distaste for the RFRA bill and how passage of the bill would harm not just LGBT persons, but all people.
"My faith is a tool. It's a way to show love and acceptance, it's an agent of change," Deacon Angel Lippardi from Christ the Good Shepherd Independent Catholic Church of Ferndale said. "Religion is not a place to hide or deny someone services."
RFRA may be dead in the 2014 legislative cycle but it may come back around in 2015, when the Michigan House and Senate pick up newly elected members. Spearheaded by Freedom Michigan, a coalition to fight the RFRA and help to pass a fully inclusive Elliott-Larsen Amendment, Michigan residents sent in over 20 thousand emails and calls to elected officials telling them that discrimination in the state will not be tolerated and that they do not support the RFRA bill.
Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville (R-Monroe) said he was not inclined to put the RFRA to vote during lame duck, the Detroit Free Press reports. The Senate was at work during its last week in session to pass a resolution that will impact the state's road funding by asking voters in May to hike the state's sales tax to 7 percent.
"People of my generation never even dreamed that we would ever be assembled here today. People of my generation never dreamed that we would have hope for marriage equality. People of my generation never dreamed that we would be having this discussion in public. I'm here to make sure that we continue to move forward because I will never go back," Reverend Rick Beattie of Renaissance Unity in Warren said in his address at the Ferndale rally.
In attendance at the Ferndale rally was Julia Music, Ferndale Pride events coordinator; Dan Martin, Ferndale mayor pro-temp; Councilwoman Piana; Ferndale School Board members; Jim O'Donnell, Ferndale school board president; Yvonne Siferd, director of victim services at Equality Michigan; Lui Francesco of the Call to Action 20/30 project; Angel Lippard, Deacon from Christ the Good Shepherd Independent Catholic Church of Ferndale; Reverend Robert Schoenhals of the Ferndale First United Methodist Church; Reverend Rick Beattie of Renaissance Unity in Warren and many others.

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