Ellen Shanna Knoppow
New Coalition Seeks to Amend ELCRA Via Citizen Initiative
New Campaign A citizen-led campaign is underway that seeks to initiate legislation that would expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and ban discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression across Michigan. [...]
Grandmother of Murder Victim Kevin Bacon Seeks Justice
A Grandmother to Many As the founder of the former transgender advocacy group Crossroads, Grace Bacon is considered the grandmother of the transgender community in Michigan by many. Some know that Bacon spent her career in the data processing [...]
Gay Grand Rapids Judge Denied Communion
Profound Sadness When Father Scott Nolan called Sara Smolenski on Nov. 23, the chief judge of Michigan's 63rd District Court thought perhaps he was reaching out because she hadn't attended services at St. Stephen Church in East Grand Rapids, where [...]
Oakland County Grants Planned Parenthood $500,000 in Absence of Title X Funds
Investment Partnership On Dec. 12, the Oakland County Board of Commissioners approved a budget amendment that grants $500,000 to Planned Parenthood in the absence of Title X funding. Planned Parenthood of Michigan had been forced out of the federal [...]
Gay Elected Official in Macomb County Sees 'Slow Change'
Not Out Publicly "I'm an elected official who happens to be gay; I'm not a gay person who happens to be an elected official," said a city councilmember in Macomb County who was eager to share what the climate is like for LGBTQ people there, [...]
Macomb County Pride 2020: LGBTQ Community Cheers, 'It's About Time'
Fulfilling a Need Detroit, Ann Arbor and Ferndale have long-held Pride festivals. Marquette, Grosse Pointe and Ypsilanti celebrate the LGBTQ community each summer, too. And for the first time this June, Royal Oak and Cadillac held their own events. [...]
Eastpointe City Council Says 'Yes' to Pride Month Resolution
Bravo, Eastpointe In what may be a first for Macomb County, the city of Eastpointe adopted a Pride Month resolution this June. Cardi DeMonaco recalled how he responded to fellow city councilmember Ron LaForest's suggestion that they introduce [...]
The Proliferation of Pride in Michigan: How Communities Find Meaning in Gestures Large and Small
Motor City Pride may be the oldest, largest and best-known Pride festival in the state, but celebrations in other Michigan cities have become well-loved, annual mainstays, too. And over the past several years, the LGBTQ community has seen many [...]
Oakland County Commission Supports Conversion Therapy Ban
On July 18, a majority of the Oakland County Commission voted in favor of a resolution to ban conversion therapy in Michigan. Specifically, the resolution supports Senate Bill 284, introduced by Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak) in April, which [...]
Conversion Therapy in Michigan: A Violation of Consumer Protection Law News Analysis
A Legislative Dead End Discredited by every mainstream mental health and medical organization in the nation, so-called conversion therapy has long been condemned as not only ineffective but harmful. There is little point in engaging in debate as to [...]
Erin Knott on Banning Conversion Therapy in Michigan: Educate, Legislate, Litigate
Conversion Therapy = Junk Science "I think absolutely conversion therapy should be regarded as consumer fraud," said Erin Knott, executive director of Equality Michigan. "Medical professionals all across the United States have highlighted that this [...]
Dave Coulter: Change Agent in Oakland County and in Michigan
An Attractive Proposition Two and half months after being appointed Oakland County Executive following the death of L. Brooks Patterson, Dave Coulter has announced he will run in 2020 for the full four-year term. That decision adds yet another [...]