Attorney General Dana Nessel began Kalamazoo's Pride festivities Friday, telling a few dozen volunteers for the event that Michigan is now a state that protects its LGBTQ residents.
“I can think of no better way to kick off Pride and Pride Month than to let everybody know that you have a government that is here to support you, that values you and it's going to protect you,” she said.
Nessel added that achievements like Michigan’s expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ people make the state a great place to live. Despite a decline in the state's population, Nessel said anti-LGBTQ laws proposed or passed in other states are driving more people to Michigan.
“We want all of our kids who grow up in Michigan to stay in Michigan. And we want to steal the best and the brightest from all the other states as well. And we want them to come here and to know that Michigan is a place where your state government cares about you and will protect you.”
Nessel is the first openly gay official elected to state-wide office. On Tuesday, she will testify before the Michigan Senate in support of a bill to expand state hate crime law to include sexual orientation and gender identity.
“People sometimes tend to say, ‘well, what do you need to have a hate crimes law for? You can just charge murder.’"
“Well, you have a hate crimes law because it's considered murder prevention. Because these cases never start out as murders, they start off as more minor assaults or property damage cases. And if you can charge them as hate crimes, you have better oversight over that perpetrator to get them mental health treatment, to get anger management treatment.”
Kalamazoo Pride starts Friday at 6 p.m. and runs through Saturday midnight.
