LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan state Senate adjourned it’s 2013-14 legislative session on Friday without considering a controversial religious freedom bill that critics say would allow discrimination against gays and others.
The Republican-led state House approved the bill on Dec. 4, but Senate Majority Leader Randy Richardville never put the issue on the agenda in the final days of the lame-duck session.
The House version of the bill provided protections for “sincerely held religious beliefs,” but critics — including LGBT advocacy group Equality Michigan — called it a “license to discriminate.”
Earlier in the month, House lawmakers adjourned a hearing without voting on a separate measure that would have updated the state’s anti-discrimination law — the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act — to include protections for LGBT citizens in employment, housing and public accommodations.
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House Republican leadership said it supported including protections on the basis of sexual orientation, but not transgender residents, saying they’re already protected because sex discrimination is illegal.
Democrats said a “fully inclusive” bill for the entire LGBT community is needed.
Both bills can be reintroduced in the next legislative session.
