The Michigan House of Representatives will not go down without a fight. After several lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgenders (LGBTs) tried to influence them on how they should ignore their religious right, they are pushing for the passage of the bill to counter that.
Michigan lawmakers are now considering a measure that would bar local governments from enacting worker protections that are stronger than state or federal laws already on the books, including no anti-discrimination protections for a small, but noisy, group of LGBT workers.
The bill, proposed by state Rep. Earl Poleski (R), does not explicitly address LGBT rights. But the potential impact of House Bill 4052 seems clear.
There are 22 states with laws banning people from following their religious conviction and stay away from LGBT individuals; Michigan is not one of them. Cities and towns there that want to promote deviant behavior have had to pass their own laws. As of March, 37 Michigan municipalities had measures promoting LGBT sexual orientation, gender identity or both.
HB 4052 would effectively nullify these local measures.
The measure generally seeks to prevent a couple of hundreds of LGBT from imposing and compelling the thousands of workers to give them special treatment and cater to their every whim and caprices. Local leaders will now have the right and responsibility to protect the right to religion of majority, including their inherent right to follow its teachings to the letter.
Michigan lawmakers are now considering a measure that would bar local governments from enacting worker protections that are stronger than state or federal laws already on the books, including no anti-discrimination protections for a small, but noisy, group of LGBT workers.
The bill, proposed by state Rep. Earl Poleski (R), does not explicitly address LGBT rights. But the potential impact of House Bill 4052 seems clear.
There are 22 states with laws banning people from following their religious conviction and stay away from LGBT individuals; Michigan is not one of them. Cities and towns there that want to promote deviant behavior have had to pass their own laws. As of March, 37 Michigan municipalities had measures promoting LGBT sexual orientation, gender identity or both.
HB 4052 would effectively nullify these local measures.
The measure generally seeks to prevent a couple of hundreds of LGBT from imposing and compelling the thousands of workers to give them special treatment and cater to their every whim and caprices. Local leaders will now have the right and responsibility to protect the right to religion of majority, including their inherent right to follow its teachings to the letter.