Update: Michigan House passes LGBTQ Pride resolution after Senate effort stalls
LANSING – The Republican leadership in the Michigan Senate refused Tuesday to accept a Pride Month resolution adopted in identical form last year, drawing protests from Democrats who accused the majority of sowing divisions in an election year.
The resolution would have recognized June 2022 as “Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer (LGBTQ) Pride Month.” Instead, it was referred to Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey’s Committee on Government Operations,
The House and Senate passed the resolution last year, a first for the GOP-led Legislature. But this year, “the Republican leadership is backing down and once again tossing Pride Month in the trash,” sponsoring Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Southfield Democrat, said in a speech to the floor.
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“I think cruelty is the point,” he said.
Shirkey, in a statement provided to Bridge Michigan through his office, said he had “made suggestions” to Moss for amendments to make the resolution “more reflective of the diversity of opinion in the Senate.”
The Clarklake Republican did not explain why he thought changes were needed to a resolution adopted last year, but said he and Moss couldn’t agree on revised language, “so we sent it to committee, just like we do from routinely with dozens of other resolutions. .”
The resolution, like last year’s version, encourages Michigan to “expand all efforts to attract and retain talent and signal to the nation that we welcome all” and notes the contributions of gay and transgender residents.
Shirkey wanted to replace LGBT-specific language with references to valuing “all” Michiganders, and proposed removing language about the government’s “low and insufficient” response to the HIV/AIDS crisis and civil rights, Moss told Bridge.
But what concerned him most, Moss said, was a disclaimer Shirkey wanted to add: “While not all Michiganders agree with the lifestyle of the LGBT community, it is accepted that every life is special, precious unique and loved by others”. creator, and each person is created in the image of God.
Moss rejected the addition, calling it a “negative” statement about LGBTQ residents who implies that being gay is a choice. It would be like amending an American Jewish Heritage Month resolution to note that “not everyone in the state of Michigan supports the Jewish way of life,” added Moss, who is gay and Jewish.
“I’m not going to let this be my problem,” Moss said of the resolution’s failure to pass the Senate on Tuesday. “I didn’t change the bets. I didn’t move the goalposts. They did.”
The resolution is co-sponsored by all Senate Democrats and three Republicans: Senators Ken Horn, R-Frankenmuth, Wayne Schmidt, R-Traverse City, and Jim Stamas, R-Midland.
Schmidt told Bridge Michigan that while he doesn’t fully understand the reason for sending the resolution back to committee, he believes its message and hopes it will return to the floor.
“I feel like all Michiganders should be included,” Schmidt said. “Although it has gone to (committee), I hope that my colleagues in that committee will vote on it and that we can vote on it again in the Senate and pass the resolution. That’s my goal.”
The resolution, like last year’s, explains that the Pride celebrations began in 1970, the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York City, which began when a black transgender woman and others “risked their lives to protest over-surveillance of the LGBTQ community.” .”
No “marriages were dissolved,” no businesses closed and no churches “lost their religious liberty” when the Legislature adopted an identical resolution in 2021, Moss told colleagues, accusing Republicans of “choosing to exploit division” in an election year. .
“His agenda is to make them fear the gay agenda,” Moss said in his speech to the floor, noting that his personal agenda, as a gay senator, includes passing “common sense gun reform” and working with Republicans to address affordable housing, economic development and policing. reforms
“They call people hairdressers, only in 2022, but that doesn’t solve their problems,” Moss said, referring to a controversial fundraising campaign email from Sen. Lana Theis, R-Brighton. “They push ‘don’t say gay’ only in 2022, but it doesn’t solve your problems.”
Source: www.bridgemi.com