Triangle Foundation

The Michigan House Health Policy Committee Tuesday voted unanimously to forward a controversial piece of legislation that will change the way HIV testing is conducted in Michigan to the full House for a vote, where it may or may not be amended to address serious medical and legal concerns.

Michigan Equality and the Triangle Foundation, probably the two most influential gay rights organizations in the state of Michigan, announced this morning that they are merging the two groups.
While both groups have focused on equal rights for the LGBT community, they’ve generally gone about it in different ways. Michigan Equality was originally formed as [...]

Under a new policy adopted by the Lansing City Attorney’s Office, medical information is required to be redacted from public documents. In addition, employees who handle requests for public documents will be required to undergo an annual training regarding the law and the policy.
The new policy arose after City Attorney Brigham Smith released the [...]

2009 saw a number of issues regarding equality for the LGBT community come to the forefront in local communities and in the state legislature, including human rights ordinances, anti-bullying and hate crimes legislation and a nascent movement to overturn the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Members of the Lansing city attorney’s Freedom of Information Act policy working group left a 45-minute closed-door meeting on Friday promising a renewed spirit of openness going forward.

LANSING — City Attorney Brigham Smith wants a working group being put together to develop new Freedom of Information Act policies for the city in the wake of a series of incidents earlier this year where he was criticized for being careless with private information. But the details of the capital city’s information disclosure guidelines will be hammered out in private.

Following up on a June surprise, Michigan House Speaker Pro Tem Pam Byrnes on Wednesday announced she had introduced legislation to roll back a 2004 constitutional amendment which bans same-sex marriage in the state.

While Kalamazoo’s proposed Ordinance 1856 would bar discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, it’s the second category that has generated the most controversy.

LANSING — In a move to circumvent the Michigan Senate’s Committee on Education, Sen. Glenn Anderson on Wednesday forced a vote on his version of a controversial bill that would “compel” local school districts to develop plans to address and prevent bullying situations.

LANSING — A letter from the head of Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox’s criminal division exonerating Lansing City Attorney Brigham Smith of any criminal wrongdoing in the public release of an arrested man’s HIV-positive status has activists and political leaders up in arms.