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Interviews with news makers and discussion of topics important to Southwest Michigan. Subscribe to the podcast through Apple itunes and Google. Segments of interview are heard in WestSouthwest Brief during Morning Edition and All Things Considered

WSW: Battle for Gay Rights Continues After Legal Setback

Benson Kua/Wikimedia Commons

    

Last week brought a federal appeals court decision upholding Michigan's ban on same-sex marriage. 

Before that Attorney General Bill Schuette was re-elected. He pursued an appeal of a federal judge's ruling striking down the ban. But the group Equality Michigan is moving ahead on issues of gay marriage and fighting discrimination. Executive Director Emily Dievendorf told WMUK's Gordon Evans that there are still some positive signs. She says among them is the election of two openly candidates to the state House last week, including Jon Hoadley of Kalamazoo. 

Dievendorf says the courts should step in to protect people who are targeted for discrimination. But she says the good news is that the same-sex marriage case will now likely head to the Supreme Court. Dievendorf says the case could be decided by this summer. She says if the nation's highest court lets Michigan's ban on gay marriage stand, then a petition drive is possible to try and change Michigan's Constitution again to legalize same-sex marriage. Dievendorf says polling shows there has been a major change in public opinion on gay marriage since voters approved the amendment to the state Constitution banning it in 2004. 

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Interview with Emily Dievendorf

Asked about amending Michigan's Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections for sexual orientation and gender identity, Dievendorf  says the change is needed because it is currently legal for people to fired because they are gay or transgender with no other cause. She says it is also important that "gender identity and expression" be included in any changes to the law. Dievendorf says the LGBT movement won't support a bill that doesn't include protections for transgender people. 

Note: The interview with Dievendorf was recorded on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers announced that they areintroducing legislation to expand protections under the state's non-discrimination law to include sexual orientation, but not gender identity. Equality Michigan issued a statement saying that the proposal is "inadequate" and would not accomplish their stated goal of eliminating discrimination. 

Gordon Evans became WMUK's Content Director in 2019 after more than 20 years as an anchor, host and reporter. A 1990 graduate of Michigan State, he began work at WMUK in 1996.
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