BY BTL STAFF
FARMINGTON HILLS – The Michigan Civil Rights Commission endorsed a model local non-discrimination ordinance model that will add sexual orientation and gender identity to protected classes under municipality law.
At a meeting held March 23, the commission approved the language which states that no one should be denied "civil rights or be discriminated against" due to the following characteristics: age, disability, education, marital status, family status, race, religion, national origin, sex, weight, gender expression, gender identity and sexual orientation.
The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, Michigan's civil rights law, does not include statewide protections for the LGBT community, though 36 cities across the state have adopted LGBT inclusive language. There was significant movement in the lame duck last year to get an amendment passed to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected classes but was continuously roadblocked by Republican members of the state legislature.
"The concept of developing a model non-discrimination ordinance grew from the fact that more than 30 Michigan municipalities have non-discrimination ordinances that vary significantly in their structure, wording and scope," commission chairman Arthur Horwitz said in a statement.
Horwitz said the state Department of Civil Rights, which operates under the commission, "developed model language that municipalities could access if, in their own discretion, they decided they wanted a starting point for their own discussions and deliberations."
The commission is urging legislators to add sexual orientation and gender identity to Elliott-Larsen but there has been no indication that the state will discuss those amendments in 2015. Meanwhile statewide organizations and advocacy groups are pushing local governments to adopt inclusive ordinances so that LGBT people are protected at the municipal level.
"Communities all over Michigan have been waiting for the legislature to expand civil rights law to protect their LGBT residents, and many are deciding they can wait no longer," Matt Wesaw, director of the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, told MLive. "The right thing to do is to expand Elliott-Larsen to include protection for gender expression and gender identity."
