Michigan

DETROIT -- A lesbian couple in Michigan, currently battling the state's ban on adoption by unmarried couples, is expanding their fight to include a challenge against the state's ban on same-sex marriage. [ Read more → ]

DETROIT -- A Michigan man pleaded guilty to federal hate crime charges on Wednesday, admitting that he assaulted a victim because he believed the man was gay, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Justice. [ Read more → ]

DETROIT -- Former state assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell was ordered to pay $4.5 million in damages after a federal jury on Thursday ruled that his blog -- "Chris Armstrong Watch" -- which attacked the former University of Michigan's openly gay student body president, was in fact defamation. [ Read more → ]

DETROIT -- Jury selection began Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Detroit in a civil lawsuit against a former Assistant Attorney General of Michigan, who stands accused of stalking and defaming a gay former student government leader at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. [ Read more → ]

Last week, extremists in the Michigan Legislature made passage of House Bill 5040, or what I like to call the “First Do Harm” bill, a major priority before breaking for the summer. The bill would prohibit public colleges and universities from disciplining students participating in counseling, social work and psychology programs who refuse treatment to a patient based on the patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity, if it is motivated by a “sincerely held religious belief.” [ Read more → ]

High school graduation should be a time of optimism, family, and hope for the future. But one Michigan school has turned it into a time for controversy and backwards thinking. The Sacred Heart Academy’s high school in Mount Pleasant, Mich. has decided to rescind its invitation to their graduation keynote speaker, the older brother of one of the graduates and an alumnus of the school. Why did they decide to not include this young man with strong ties to the private Catholic academy? Because they found out he is gay. [ Read more → ]

DETROIT -- A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought against the former University of Michigan student council president Chris Armstrong, the latest setback for Andrew Shirvell, the former Michigan assistant attorney general who was fired . [ Read more → ]

LANSING, Mich. -- A grievance officer of the state Civil Service Commission on Tuesday ruled that former Michigan assistant attorney general Andrew Shirvell had made a “media spectacle” of himself and the state's attorney general’s office after publishing a blog attacking the former University of Michigan student body president for his alleged “radical homosexual agenda." [ Read more → ]

FLINT, Mich. -- The Flint city council on Monday passed an non-discrimination ordinance that includes crucial protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in housing and public accommodations. [ Read more → ]

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney took two wins by coming out on top in the GOP primary in Arizona and — after initially lagging in the polls — taking victory in Michigan. [ Read more → ]

I have always believed that once you recognize a wrong you become an accessory to injustice if you continue to live in a way that accommodates that wrong ... Yet, many of us -- gay, transgender and allies -- are choosing silence when our voices and actions could be a part of a movement forward. [ Read more → ]

TROY, Mich. -- Troy, Mich. Mayor Janice Daniels is embroiled in controversy again after members of a local high school Gay-Straight Alliance accused her of making homophobic remarks during a meeting Monday. [ Read more → ]

LANSING, Mich. -- Following months of heated debate, Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder on Thursday signed House Bill 4770, eliminating health care coverage for domestic partners of public employees, and prohibiting any government entity in the state from providing such coverage. [ Read more → ]

TROY, Mich. -- Reports claiming Troy Mayor Janice Daniels was fired from her job at Century 21 Town & Country are not true, according to the manager of the real estate office where Daniels worked. [ Read more → ]

TROY, Mich. -- In a city council meeting that stretched five hours until nearly 1 a.m. Tuesday, residents of Troy, Mich. blasted mayor Janice Daniels over comments she posted to Facebook last June about gay marriage, which included a gay slur. [ Read more → ]

TROY, Mich. -- The blog “Keep Troy Strong” -- which is dedicated to progressive politics in this Michigan city -- has unearthed a June 25 Facebook comment by Troy’s new mayor, Janice Daniels, in which she wrote, “I think I am going to throw away my 'I Love New York' carrying bag now that queers can get married there.” [ Read more → ]

LANSING, Mich. -- The Michigan state Senate on Tuesday dropped it's "license to bully" bill, and instead passed a House version of the bill that stripped religious exemptions and that would require anti-bullying policies in the state's public schools. [ Read more → ]

After national outrage hit the media earlier this month, Republicans had to back down from their “license to bully” based on religious beliefs. And, so, we’re back to where we began. The House has passed a weak bill that is expected to move easily through the Senate, but the bill doesn’t provide any guidance for local school districts. [ Read more → ]

LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan House of Representative this week passed its own version of the anti-bullying bill, removing the controversial language inserted by Senate Republicans that allowed for exceptions to the law for “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction." [ Read more → ]

When Gary Glenn, the head of American Family Association’s Michigan affiliate, announced his run for U.S. Senate, Right Wing Watch wondered “how long it will be before Glenn receives Mike Huckabee’s endorsement given that Huckabee believes that ‘if we had leaders like Gary Glenn across America, our work wouldn’t be so hard.’” [ Read more → ]