A policy advocate for LGBTQ+ Michiganders is reacting to President Donald Trump’s Inauguration Day action to roll back federal protections and programs for that community.
Emme Zanotti is Director of Advocacy at Equality Michigan. She had harsh words for Trump’s new executive order for the U.S. Government to only recognize the male and female sex.
“At the end of the day, the intent is clear,” Zanotti said. “It was to feed a base that has hatred and disdain for the trans community, and the nature of the executive order appears to be blatantly discriminatory.”
Zanotti says her organization will continue to advocate for people excluded from that definition.
Meanwhile, she says Equality Michigan is celebrating two bills getting signed into law in January by Governor Gretchen Whiter that cut red tape for individuals to change their legal names.
One measure takes away sex reassignment surgery as a condition for name changes for people with a gender identity different from their sex assigned at birth while the other removes the need for a criminal background check.
“For a long time, it was much easier for some sort of bigoted person to go buy a firearm than it was for a transgender person to legally change their name," she said.
"I'm proud of the work that Michiganders have done the last couple years to change that.”
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