BY BTL STAFF
WASHINGTON D.C. – The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights announced the appointment of two openly LGBT advocates to the Michigan Advisory Committee Jan. 29.
Jon Hoadley, state representative for Michigan's 60th House District representing Kalamazoo, and Emily Dievendorf, executive director for Equality Michigan, will join 12 other Michigan residents to be appointed to the committee.
Members conduct reviews and produce reports and recommendations concerning local civil rights issues, including justice, voting, discrimination, housing and education. Congress mandates that the federal commission appoint volunteer members to advisory committees in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Each appointee to the federal State Advisory Committees serves a two-year term.
"I am thrilled to be joining civil rights advocates like Rep. Jon Hoadley, Michigan Civil Rights Department Director Matt Wesaw and Donna Budnick on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights' Michigan Advisory Committee. Since the Commission's creation in 1957, the bipartisan agency has played a vital role in developing and enforcing national civil rights policy," said Dievendorf. "I am confident that this year's appointees to the Michigan Advisory Committee will strive to serve that legacy. Michigan LGBTQ voices are at the table, and our needs will be on the agenda. Michiganders want our state to move forward, not backward, and this committee is an opportunity to strengthen the federal government's role in that effort."
Past Michigan Advisory Committee activity addressed discrimination against Arab and Muslim communities, immigration issues and police protection concerns. The committee will meet during the first quarter of this year to consider plans and priorities.
Michigan members to join Hoadley, Dievendorf, Budnick and Wesaw include: Lawrence Almeda of Canton, Rev. Dr. Wendell Anthony of Detroit, James Fett of Pinckney, Dr. Samuel Gregg of Ann Arbor, Joyce Herron-Taylor of Southfield, Jayashree Kommareddi of Grand Blanc, Dr. James Prescott and Sarah Prescott of Northville, Victor Torres of Ann Arbor and Nathaniel Wolf of Ada.
