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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE
November 4, 2011
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www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
Michigan moves to cancel DP benefits, local rights laws
by Anthony Glassman
Lansing, Mich.-The Michigan legislature took a step towards barring municipalities from granting domestic partner benefits to public employees on October 19, two weeks after Rep. Tom McMillin introduced legislation to strike local gay-inclusive rights ordinances.
The Michigan Senate Committee on Reforms, Restructuring and Reinventing approved two bills that would eliminate benefits for unmarried partners of public employees. The bills would prevent government bodies from offering the benefits, and block unions from including them in collective bargaining agreements.
The bills passed along party lines.
A month earlier, the bills passed the Michigan House of Representatives on a 64-44 vote. They were introduced after the legislature was unable to override the Michigan Civil Service Commission's collective bargaining agreement allowing some state workers to share benefits with an "eligible adult."
McMillin's bill, which is identical to one passed last spring in Tennessee, would prohibit municipalities from passing rights protections beyond what is offered at the state level. It would void LGBT anti-discrimination protections in 14 Michigan cities.
McMillin's statements in favor of it are
also identical to ones used by bill sponsors in Tennessee: to create uniform laws across the state.
He also cried discrimination against the Boy Scouts and Christian business owners who would deny service to LGBT people because they found their lives or events sinful.
“Discrimination is happening right now,” countered Jon Hoadley, executive director of Unity Michigan, to the Michigan Messenger. "If local leaders don't want to wait for Lansing to do the right thing by protecting all people-including our gay and transgender neighbors from discrimination while making Michigan a better place for business, then cities should have the ability to step up and lead."
Among the local laws in danger is the one in East Lansing, home of Michigan State University. Passed in 1972, it is the first city ordinance in the nation to bar discrimination by sexual orientation.
"House Bill 5039 is an unnecessary and unjustifiable intrusion into an important issue of local concern for Michigan cities," said East Lansing councilor Nathan Triplett. "The state legislature has no business telling communities that we cannot recognize the equal dignity of each and every one of our residents by enacting inclusive antidiscrimination ordinances. The practical
effect of this legislation in the city of East Lansing will be to legalize discrimination based on sexual orientation and student status. That is completely unacceptable and does not represent the values of our community."
Emily Dievendorf, policy director of Equality Michigan, was understandably critical of the legislation.
"Republican lawmakers continue to attack hardworking LGBT people rather than focusing on real issues," she told Detroit's Between the Lines LGBT newspaper. "They are ignoring best practices in business and promoting a hostile environment for gay and lesbian couples. We hope that voters question where lawmakers' real priorities are."
Of the benefit ban, she said, "Tens of thousands of public and private employees in our state have access to health care benefits for domestic partners. This legislation, if passed, would have a devastating impact. Michigan Republicans are ready to close the door for gay and lesbian couples who want to live here even if it means dictating human resources policy for local governments."
Jay Kaplan, ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project staff attorney, testified on the benefits ban before the committee.
"Given the lack of economic soundness behind these proposals, one is left to believe that the true motivation behind these bills is a cynical, mean-spirited attempt to attack and harm people that certain members of this legislature do not like," he said. "House Bills 4770 and 4771 are wrong. They are unfair. They are unconstitutional and they will be challenged in court should they become law."
Gov. Rick Snyder's legal counsel, Michael Gadola, sent a May 18 letter to senate and house leaders indicating that the benefit bills were unconstitutional and unenforceable because of the way they infringe on the authority of public universities. Kaplan mirrored that in his testimony.
"Michigan courts have long recognized that the legislature may not interfere with a university board institutional management and control," he noted. "The State of Michigan, including its legislative body, has always been strongly committed to the concept of home rule. This legislation blatantly goes against this history."
Sponsors of the legislation claimed that the benefits would cost over $8 million, but a more recent Civil Service Commission analysis showed that only 100 employees opted in, costing only $600,000, less than one-tenth sponsors' estimates.
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Davis defeated Vandeweghe 5-1, then in mixed doubles, Roddick and Mauresmo beat Gambill and Navratilova 5-4. Roddick beat Gambill in men's singles 5-3, before also defeating him in the super-tiebreaker 1O, tipping the scales of the series 10-9 in favor of Elton John.
In the celebrity match which did not count towards the final score, Elton John and Martina Navratilova defeated John McEnroe and Amélie Mauresmo.
Last year's event, which was held in the Baltimore-Washington raised area, $267,000, proving that Cleveland rocks, almost doubling their total.
At the VIP reception in Public Hall, Elton John recalled playing his first Cleveland concert there. "It looks a bit better than it did then. It looks fantastic."
While the Elton John AIDS Foundation is now 20 years old, there are still problems out there needing to be tackled. "The hard part is what to do with the money," John
noted, saying that one of the problems with the current highly active anti-retroviral treatments is "getting medicine to people who cannot afford it."
He also said, “After 30 years, our biggest challenge is how to get rid of the stigma.”
Over a third of the money raised at WTT Smash Hits will stay in Cleveland, with $180,000 being donated to the AIDS Taskforce. That total is half of the live auction, which raised over $155,000 in total, and the $105,000 net proceeds from the pre-match reception.
“What an amazing event,” said Taskforce executive director Tracy Jones. "We are so thrilled to have been a part of it."
"We cannot thank Sir Elton John, Billie Jean King and all of the players enough for helping us raise these much-needed dollars. Every penny will be put to work helping our clients live healthier, stronger lives and continue to help us fight the further spread of HIV," she continued.
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student waited for her son and then attacked him. Her son, who did not want to be named, tries to get away repeatedly before being knocked down and pummeled.
The teen's teeth were chipped and he may have suffered a concussion. Prosecutors instructed the Ross County sheriff's department to get the boy's medical records to see if the attack qualified for felony charges.
The student who attacked the gay youth was suspended for three days, and the girl who recorded the incident was also suspended. The principal of Union-Scioto High School, James Osborne, said that the assailant's suspension is being examined and may be increased.
According to the gay teen, his attacker posted a comment on one of his pictures on Facebook two days before the attack, saying, "Check out the definition of a fag." He did not, however, say anything about his victim's sexual orientation during the attack.
School officials say that they are taking the video and the comment on the picture into account in their ongoing investigation. Their preliminary investigation, which resulted in the three-day suspension, did not indicate that the freshman's sexual ori-
entation was a motivating factor in the assault.
Ross County prosecutor Matt Schmidt said that his office is weighing whether to file assault or felonious assault charges, but notes that, despite Collins' insistence that the attack was a hate crime, the state of Ohio does not include sexual orientation in its hate crime statutes, so there would be no enhancement of the assault charges regardless of that motivation.
The school district has a policy barring bullying, but the policy does not include sexual orientation specifically. When the attack happened in a classroom, the teacher was outside monitoring the halls during class change, as teachers in the school are required to do.
Ohio law requires bullying policies in schools, and State Rep. Nickie Antonio of Lakewood has introduced a bill to enumerate categories in the Ohio anti-bullying legislation, including sexual orientation.
"All students regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity have the right to a safe school and education," said Equality Ohio executive director Ed Mullen. "Students should not fear verbal harassment, cyber-bullying, or physical assault in our public schools."
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