The Michigan Court of Appealssays the state law that punishes intimidation based on gender protects transgender people from threatening behavior.
The case centers on a victim who identifies as female. She was threatened, taunted and shot in the shoulder during an altercation at a gas station.
The appeals court says the fact that the victim is transgender is encompassed by the language of the intimidation law, which covers threats based on gender, as well as – among other things — race, religion and national origin.
So the appeals court reinstated the intimidation charge and sent the case back to the lower court.
This decision comes as a petition campaign is also trying to add LGBTQ protections to the state’s civil rights law, which is separate from the intimidation statute.