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Michigan civil rights act expansion lined up for Senate floor vote

A record number of openly LGBTQ candidates won their midterm races in 2022.
Mark Lennihan
/
AP
A record number of openly LGBTQ candidates won their midterm races in 2022.

A bill to expand Michigan’s civil rights law to include LGBTQ protections has been moved into a position to be voted on vote tomorrow by the state Senate.

Democratic Senator Jeremy Moss is the bill sponsor. He says, if it’s adopted by the Senate, then the House and sent to the governor, it will cap 40 years of efforts to add specific LGBTQ protections to the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act.

“Here we are in 2023 and I think people are astounded that this is not protected under the law and we’re now in the final act of making sure that it is.” said Moss.

Governor Gretchen Whitmer says she’s ready to sign the bill. It would also align with a Michigan Supreme Court ruling last summer that LGBTQ rights are protected under the state law that prohibits discrimination based on sex.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network.