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.
The Kalamazoo Gazette reports that the city of Kalamazoo is considering an ordinance that would ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation:
A proposed Kalamazoo city ordinance aimed at protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered individuals from discrimination will be introduced Monday before the City Commission.
“There is not one law on the federal level or state level that protects against discrimination for sexual orientation,” said Terry Kuseske, head of the Kalamazoo Alliance for Equality’s political action committee.
The proposed city ordinance, dubbed the “Equal Rights Ordinance,” would protect against discrimination in the areas of housing, employment and public accommodations. The ordinance would apply to both the private and public sectors, although there would be some exemptions. Churches would be exempt and so would individuals who are seeking to rent out part of a residence in which they are living.
The Western Right, the blog of the WMU College Republicans, responds to this proposal with the headline Kalamazoo to Persecute Christians. But Christians, and all other religious people, are already protected from discrimination. They cannot be fired because they are Christian, nor can they be denied housing or refused service. Would they say that this is “persecuting” those who cannot discriminate against them?
If you want to take the position that all anti-discrimination laws are wrong then, by all means, take that position. It would at least be intellectually consistent. But if you’re going to enjoy the protection of anti-discrimination laws on the basis of your religion, there is no logical justification for denying those protections to gays and lesbians. They can’t even use the old “homosexuality is a choice” argument because, by any reasonable standard, religion is far more mutable than sexual orientation.
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