I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
[Ed. note: This updated story includes a correction regarding the timing of the meeting's denial, and follow-up with Spectrum Health Care.]
Michigan lesbian couple Ashleigh Haberman and Erica Schaub were denied a meeting with Spectrum Health Care officials in Grand Rapids this afternoon. The meeting was supposed to occur Friday at the hospital, but it was canceled by the hospital on Thursday. In an earlier version of this report, Michigan Messenger erroneously reported the couple had been turned away from the meeting today.
The meeting had been prearranged to share the results of the hospital’s investigation into a complaint the pair had filed. The complaint alleged Haberman and Schaub were lectured about gay marriage rather than receiving medical care during a recent visit to a Spectrum Health Care facility.
Colette Beighley, west Michigan field organizer for the statewide gay rights group Triangle Foundation, said the hospital refused to meet with the couple if Triangle Foundation was present. Triangle Foundation is a statewide gay rights organization and as part of its services works as victim advocates for LGBT people who have suffered discrimination or been the victims of a hate crime.
Continued -“They said they would not meet with them if they had an advocate of any kind in the room,” Beighley said.
But Spectrum Health’s Director Public Relations Paula MacKenzie told Michigan Messenger the hospital is prepared to meet with Triangle Foundation.
“We are willing and stand ready to meet with the Triangle Foundation, but we would like to meet with them separate from the patients,” MacKenzie said in a phone interview.
Asked if Spectrum would deny a rape victim the right to have a victim advocate attend a meeting with hospital officials to discuss a complaint, MacKenzie tersely replied, “I am not going to get into hypotheticals with you.”
MacKenzie denies the medical facility has denied the couple’s request for a meeting with a patient advocate present.
“We are not denying their request,” she said. “We are requesting a different process.”
Watch Michigan Messenger for more updates on this developing story.
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