Tag: Michigan

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Michigan: Federal judge to hear marriage equality ban challenge

From NBC:

A federal judge said Wednesday that a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple seeking the right to wed in Michigan will go to trial early next year in a long-awaited legal challenge to the state’s same-sex marriage ban.

U.S. District Court Judge Bernard Friedman said the trial will begin Feb. 25. He said he wanted to hear if experts believed the state had a legitimate interest in prohibiting same-sex marriage, according to NBC affiliate, WDIV-Detroit.

At least 11 county clerks offices had been poised to issue licenses to gay couples if Friedman had ruled in favor of overturning the same-sex marriage ban, according to LGBT advocacy group Equality Michigan.

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Michigan: Equal protection lawsuit moves forward after DOMA repeal

An equal protections lawsuit that challenges Michigan’s ant-gay marriage law will move forward in the aftermath of the repeal of DOMA:

“Plaintiffs’ equal protection claim has sufficient merit to proceed.

“The United States Supreme Court’s recent decision in United States v. Windsor, No. 12-307 (U.S. Jun. 26, 2013), has provided the requisite precedential fodder for both parties to this litigation. plaintiffs are prepared to claim Windsor as their own.

“And why shouldn’t they? The Supreme Court has just invalidated a federal statute on equal protection grounds because it “place[d] same-sex couples in an unstable position of being in a second-tier marriage.” Id. slip op. at 23.

“Moreover, and of particular importance to this case, the justices expressed concern that the natural consequence of such discriminatory legislation would not only lead to the relegation of same-sex relationships to a form of second-tier status, but impair the rights of “tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples” as well. Id. This is exactly the type of harm plaintiffs seek to remedy in this case.”

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Michigan: Court strikes down domestic partner ban due to “targeting” gay families

Via press release the ACLU announced that a federal judge has ruled the Michigan law barring domestic partner benefits is unconstitutional:

A federal judge today ruled that a state law that would have barred many public entities from providing health insurance to the domestic partners of their employees is unconstitutional. The American Civil Liberties Union and Kirkland & Ellis LLP challenged the law on behalf of five gay and lesbian public employees, as well as their long-term domestic partners, who either lost their health insurance or would have lost their insurance as a result of the law.

“We’re breathing a sigh of relief right now,” said Peter Ways, an Ann Arbor teacher whose partner would have lost his benefits. “This law was clearly meant to target families like ours and to make us feel as though we didn’t count.” In striking down the law, U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson found it discriminated by forcing cities, counties, school districts, and community colleges to cancel family benefits for gay and lesbian employees in committed relationships while heterosexual employees had the ability to marry their partners to maintain health insurance. Same-sex couples cannot marry in Michigan.

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Michigan House Democrats introduce marriage equality bills

In anticipation of the US  Supreme Court’s possible rulings on DOMA and Prop 8, Michigan House Democrats have introduced four bills to address marriage equality in in their state.

From the Detroit Free Press:

One bill is a joint resolution that would amend Michigan’s constitution to allow gay marriage after it was banned in 2004 as a result of a voter initiative.

A second bill would allow gay marriages formalized in other states to be recognized in Michigan.

A third bill amends Michigan’s marriage laws authorizing who may marry and a fourth measure is a resolution calling on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act.

Similar bills were earlier introduced by Democrats in the Senate. The Legislature is currently on its summer recess.

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Michigan: Marriage equality support over 56%

According to a new poll by The Detroit News and WDIV-TV Channel 4, 56.8 percent of Michigan voters now support the freedom to marry — up 12.5 percent from last year — while just 36.7 percent oppose it.

The support is in stark contrast to 2004, when Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

At least 65 percent favor some form of civil unions, but those are also banned by the state’s anti-gay constitutional amendment regarding marriage. The new poll shows 54 percent would be prepared to vote to repeal that ban.

A November poll similarly found that 56 percent support equality.

(source)

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First same-sex wedding under Indian tribal law in Michigan

Tim LaCroix (L) and Gene Barfield (R) exchange marriage vows as
Dexter McNamara officiates

How wonderful is this?

The head of an American Indian tribe in Michigan signed a law approving same-sex marriage on Friday, then immediately wed a gay couple who had been together for 30 years.

From NBC News:

Dexter McNamara, chairman of the 4,600-member Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians in northern Michigan, wed Tim LaCroix, 53, and Gene Barfield, 60, of Boyne City. After McNamara read the couple’s vows and led the ceremony in English, a member of the tribe followed and conducted a traditional tribal ceremony in their language before dozens of wellwishers.

“I’m proud of my tribe for doing this and I love my husband,” LaCroix said, with Barfield, who is not a tribe member, chiming in:”How could the world be better? … I’m just full of joy and happiness and I love my husband.”

I believe this makes for the very first same-sex wedding in Michigan.

Congratulations to the newlyweds AND to the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians.

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Michigan Indian tribe votes to recognize marriage equality

The legislative body of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians has voted to recognize same-sex marriage. The tribe is based in Harbor Springs, and the vote was held this past Sunday.

The 5-4 vote in favor of recognizing same-sex marriage sends the statute to the tribal chairman, who can either sign or veto it. The tribal council would need seven votes to override a veto.

Little Traverse Bay Bands Chairman Dexter McNamara told the Petosky News that “I’m going to have to think about it.” 

Two other U.S. Indian tribes recognize gay marriage: the Coquille Tribe in North Bend, Oregon (2009), and the Suquamish Tribe in Suquamish, Washington (2011).

Michigan voters passed a state constitutional ban on marriage equality in 2004, but Indian tribes are self-governing.

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Michigan: Anti-gay hate crime gets a guilty plea

For the second time since the adoption of the Matthew Shepard Act, the federal government has won a conviction for an anti-gay hate crime. Via MetroSource:

Everett Dwayne Avery of Detroit admitted to striking a fellow customer in the face in a Detroit convenience store in March 2011 because of the man’s perceived sexuality. Avery’s assault resulted in numerous facial injuries to the victim, including the fracturing of the victim’s eye socket.

In a statement released today, the Department of Justice confirmed that the 36-year-old Avery had pleaded guilty to the federal hate crimes charge.

Avery is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 28 and faces a maximum of 10 years in prison.

“Hate-fueled incidents have no place in a civilized society,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division. “The Justice Department is committed to using all the tools in our law enforcement arsenal, including the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, to prosecute acts of violence motivated by hate.”

Another case being prosecuted under the federal hate crime in currently under way in Kentucky.

(source)

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Michigan: Former Asst Atty General Andrew Shrivell loses in court BIG after cyber-bullying college student

Former assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell found out Thursday that he must pay a whopping $4.5 million for the damage he caused to a gay University of Michigan student leader.

It’s doubtful he could have imagined such a punishment being issued by a jury of his peers when he decided to sit down with The Daily Show in November 2010 for what turned out to be perhaps the definitive takedown of his harassment.

Shirvell had been generating headlines for launching the “Chris Armstrong Watch” blog in April of that year, and he was placed on leave in October.

Shirvell was eventually fired that year for repeatedly harassing Armstrong, his alma mater’s student body president, via blog postings that claimed Armstrong pushed a “radical homosexual agenda,” called him a Nazi and a representative of Satan. The attorney general’s office reported it had received more than 20,000 outraged phone calls about Shirvell.

All of that led to Armstrong’s defamation lawsuit in 2011. And The Detroit Free Press reported on Thursday that a jury in U.S. District Court ordered Shirvell to pay $4.5 million in damages.

Check out the sadly out of touch Andrew Shirvell try to answer questions on camera.

(Source)

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Mitt Romney loves everything in Michigan

I love the trees – they’re the right height.


I love the lakes – big and small.


I love cars.


I love cars.


I love cars.

This performance is called pandering.  Pandering to the people of Michigan, specifically.

Remember, Mitt Romney said he would have let the auto industry go bankrupt. He has clearly said he wouldn’t have saved those American jobs.

Recently, Michigan Rep. Fred Upton (R) noted that without the rescue, Michigan “would have hit 40 percent unemployment rates.”

What do you think of a “president” who would choose to allow thousands and thousands of American jobs to disappear when they could be saved?

How would you feel about a “president” who would let YOUR job disappear when it could be saved?