{"id":1577540,"date":"2022-07-28T22:31:19","date_gmt":"2022-07-29T02:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577540"},"modified":"2022-07-28T22:31:49","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T02:31:49","slug":"michigan-supreme-court-rules-states-civil-rights-law-covers-sexual-orientation-gender-identity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/michigan-supreme-court-rules-states-civil-rights-law-covers-sexual-orientation-gender-identity\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Supreme Court Rules State\u2019s Civil Rights Law Covers Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmichigan-supreme-court-rules-states-civil-rights-law-covers-sexual-orientation-gender-identity%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1577540&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/michigan\">Michigan<\/a>\u2019s highest court ruled Thursday that the state\u2019s civil rights protections preventing discrimination on the basis of sex also apply to sexual orientation and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/gender-identity\">gender identity<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a 5-2 decision, Michigan\u2019s Supreme Court ruled in favor of a same-sex couple and a transgender person, arguing that their civil rights were violated by businesses refusing them service, WOOD TV <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woodtv.com\/news\/michigan\/michigan-supreme-court-says-anti-bias-law-protects-lgbtq\/\">reported<\/a>. The ruling is being heralded as a major victory for the LGBTQ community, but many are concerned about its implications for religious liberty.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDiscrimination on the basis of sexual orientation necessarily constitutes discrimination because of sex,\u201d the majority opinion, written by Republican-nominated Justice Beth Clement, <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1JbhtiOlZlS_ImF5k546gNLzE8O5KtuZk\/view\">stated<\/a>. \u201cAccordingly, the denial of \u2018the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation or public service\u2019 on the basis of sexual orientation constitutes discrimination \u2018because of . . . sex.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Four Democrat-nominated justices joined Clement in the opinion that targets small businesses in the state that are not already subject to federal workplace laws.<\/p>\n<p>In a dissent, Justice David Viviano expressed concern for religious liberty protections, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bridgemi.com\/michigan-government\/michigan-supreme-court-lgbt-discrimination-barred-under-existing-law\">according<\/a> to Bridge Michigan. \u201cThis departs from the normal principle that courts will first consider whether an interpretation raises grave constitutional doubts before adopting that interpretation,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<p>The case appeared before the Supreme Court after the Michigan Civil Rights Commission <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlive.com\/news\/2018\/07\/commission_disregards_attorney.html\">authorized<\/a> the Department of Civil Rights to investigate complaints of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in 2018. Two businesses, Rouch World and UpRooted Electrolysis, sued in response to complaints filed against them, relying on their religious beliefs as the reason they do not serve gay and transgender people. The lawsuit also argued that the Civil Rights Commission did not have the authority to bypass the legislature and interpret Michigan civil rights law differently from how it was laid out in 1976, since the law does not mention sexual orientation or gender identity.<\/p>\n<p>Rouch World refused to host a same-sex wedding, and laser removal company UpRooted Electrolysis did not give service to a transgender person identifying as a woman who wanted hair removed. The court ultimately ruled against the two companies\u2019 arguments in the landmark decision.<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Democrat Governor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/topic\/gretchen-whitmer\">Gretchen Whitmer<\/a> applauded the high court\u2019s decision, saying it is a historical moment for her state. \u201cFor too long, LGBTQ+ Michiganders had been left out of our state\u2019s civil rights protections,\u201d Whitmer <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GovWhitmer\/status\/1552785248529915904\">tweeted<\/a>. \u201cFor years, I have fought to bring our LGBTQ+ community under the protection of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Today, I am proud that history has been made.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, also a Democrat, personally appeared before the court during arguments in March and urged the justices to rule in favor of the LGTBQ community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMichiganders deserve to live in a state that recognizes the value of diversity &#038; rejects the notion that our own civil rights law could be used as a tool of discrimination,\u201d Nessel, who is Michigan\u2019s first openly gay politician elected to statewide office, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dananessel\/status\/1552762342361948161\">wrote<\/a> following the court\u2019s decision Thursday. \u201cThis ruling is a victory for the LGBTQ+ community, for all MI residents, &#038; one that\u2019s long overdue.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan\u2019s highest court ruled Thursday that the state\u2019s civil rights protections preventing discrimination on the basis of sex also apply to sexual orientation and gender identity. In a 5-2 decision, Michigan\u2019s Supreme Court ruled in favor of a same-sex couple and a transgender person, arguing that their civil rights were violated by businesses refusing them &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1577556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1577540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1577540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1577540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1577556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1577540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1577540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1577540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}