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.
A Mona Shores teenager is crying foul after administrators in the West Michigan school invalidated the vote of his peers in a race for homecoming king.
Oakleigh Reed says he wanted to run for the position because he was as qualified as any other person running. School officials defend their decision, reports NBC 25:
Assistant Superintendent Todd Geerlings said the issue is simple: The ballots gave two choices, vote for a boy for king and a girl for queen.
In a report Monday night, WOOD TV 8 in Grand Rapids interviewed a school official who claims the district did not violate any nondiscrimination rules by refusing to crown Reed as King. The station first broke the story Sunday night.
But Reed says the school has acknowledge his transition to male by addressing him with male pronouns, allowing him to wear the male uniform for band and the male graduation gown.
The ACLU of Michigan’s Jay Kaplan had this to say on the issue in an e-mail to Michigan Messenger:
We are aware of the situation here and it raises issues as to whether this student is being treated differently by the school district because of his gender identity. Gender identity is not a protected category under our state civil rights laws, nor does Muskegon include it in its anti-discrimination policy. However, discrimination against transgender persons because of gender stereotyping has been found in some cases to be actionable sex or gender discrimination. At any rate, there have been other school districts that have permitted transgender students to serve as Homecoming King or Queen in accordance with the student’s gender identity and expression. It’s disappointing that the Mona Shores School District has decided to take the opposite approach, particularly where previously it has shown sensitivity towards this student, regarding how he is referred to in school (and his ability to wear a male robe at graduation). We hope the district will reconsider its decision.
Julie Nemecek, a nationally recognized transgender activist who was fired from the conservative Christian Spring Arbor University after she began her transition, also weighed in on the controversy in an e-mail to Messenger:
The point that the school is missing is that gender is determined by the brain and not the genitals. Established case law in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals says that when the Civil Rights Law of 1964 says “sex” it also means gender. The student was discriminated against for being who he is no less than if the school had said the prom king or queen had to be white.
The ACLU has reached out to Reed and requested permission to write a letter to the school district on his behalf, WOOD TV 8 reports. Reed is reportedly considering accepting the offer.
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