DETROIT, Mich. – A billboard for Squirt.org in Detroit, Michigan, has caused controversy and has now been removed. The billboard, which was located close to the interstate (East McNichols and Riopelle Streets), depicts two men, one of whom has his arm around the other. The backlash to the Squirt.org advertisement raises numerous questions on sexuality, discrimination, and obscenity. The…
DETROIT — The American Civil Liberties Union and ACLU of Michigan today filed a lawsuit in federal district court challenging Michigan’s practice of permitting state-contracted child placement agencies to reject qualified same-sex couples based on the agencies’ religious beliefs. The lawsuit was filed against the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services and the Michigan…
A federal judge in Michigan ruled Thursday in favor of a Detroit-based funeral home who fired a transgender employee due to her gender identity. U.S. District Court Judge Sean Cox ruled that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) could be used as a defense in a sex discrimination claim under Title VII — exempting the…
Today, ignoring the outcry around the nation to stop the attacks on LGBT people and their families, the Michigan Senate passed three dangerously broad and extreme anti-LGBT adoption bills that would enshrine special taxpayer-funded discrimination into Michigan law. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has urged Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder to veto the toxic legislation that…
As the 2016 campaign gets going, three outspoken opponents of same-sex marriage will hit the trail in Michigan, even as new polling shows that Michigan voters strongly support marriage equality. The Detroit Free Press reported recently that Rand Paul, Ben Carson and Scott Walker will all be hosting campaign events in Michigan today. Meanwhile, new…
Today, the Human Rights Campaign, urged the Michigan Senate to defeat a package of extreme anti-LGBT adoption bills and called on Gov. Rick Snyder to veto them if they reach his desk. HB 4188, HB 4189, and HB 4190 would enshrine special discrimination rights into Michigan law by allowing adoption agencies contracted by the state…
Planet Fitness, a successful fitness chain and home of the trademarked ‘Judgment Free Zone,’ has banned a woman who repeatedly complained that a man was using the women’s room. According to a report on MassLive.com, Yvette Cormier of Midland County said this week that corporate officials told her she was no longer welcome after she…
A Michigan pediatrician refused to work with the baby of a same-sex couple, citing her anti-gay religious beliefs. It’s another case that highlights the potential dangers of conservative media’s campaign to champion “religious freedom” in the face of anti-gay discrimination, reports Carlos Maza at Media Matters for America. In October of 2014, Krista and Jami Contreras…
To her surprise and disappointment, lawyer Dana Nessel, who will represent April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse from Michigan in this year’s Supreme Court debate over same-sex marriage, has found out that her biggest adversaries aren’t anti-gay groups like the National Organization for Marriage and the Southern Baptist Convention. Rather, they are the poster children of…
In addition to passing a Religious Freedom Restoration Act through the Michigan House of Representatives Dec. 4, in a surprise move the Michigan legislative body also resurrected three bills that would allow adoption or foster care providers to refuse services on the basis of their personal religious objections—the consequences of which would be immediate, random,…
