Jay Kaplan
How the Trump 'Medical Conscience' Rule is Harming LGBTQ Liberty
In November a federal district judge in New York found that the Trump Administration lied. The Court also held that the Administration had overstepped its authority. Let me explain. In May 2019 the Administration issued its "Medical Conscience" [...]
Fighting for Our Rights 50 Years Post Stonewall
June 28, 1969. With no civil rights protections available for LGBTQ people and rampant harassment and brutality by law enforcement against our community and LGBTQ establishments, a group of brave men and women — including two transgender [...]
Supreme Court Takes Cases of People Fired for Being LGBTQ
Can a business fire someone because they're LGBTQ? The Supreme Court will soon tell us. After a funeral home outside Detroit fired Aimee Stephens because she is transgender, Aimee won a federal appeals court ruling that the firing violated the [...]
Adoption Case Settlement Win for LGBTQ Michiganders
This past Friday came the announcement that the ACLU of Michigan and the state of Michigan settled a lawsuit that we, the ACLU, had filed — challenging the state's practice of allowing state-contracted, taxpayer-funded foster care and adoption [...]
The Transgender Community will not Be Erased
It's been a challenging week this week for members of the transgender community, their allies and supporters. Over the weekend, the New York Times revealed that officials within the Trump Administration are pushing for a narrow definition of sex in [...]
Faith-Based Service Refusals in State-Sponsored Foster, Adoptive Care is Illegal
There are more than 13,000 children in Michigan's foster care system who are need of permanent loving and supportive homes. The State of Michigan through the Department of Health and Human Services and the Children's Services Agency is tasked with [...]
Supreme Court Cakeshop Ruling Does Not Provide License to Discriminate
Some are misinterpreting last week's Supreme Court's decision in the Masterpiece Cake case, as providing a license to discriminate against LGBTQ people. This is patently false. The Court's ruling in favor of the cake shop was based on very narrow [...]
Unanimous Vote in Favor of Michigan Transgender Woman is Groundbreaking
A landmark legal decision for transgender rights was issued last week. A unanimous three-judge panel of the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals — covering Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio and Tennessee — ruled that Michigan RG & GR Harris Funeral [...]
LGBTQ Rights in Era of Marriage Equality
It's been more than two and half years since the U.S. Supreme Court in Obergefell v. Hodges held that our Constitution guarantees us both the fundamental right to marry and the ancillary benefits associated with a legal marriage. The Williams [...]