America is going through intense changes right now; removing the ban on same-sex marriage across the nation, taking down the Confederate flag in South Carolina, and even allowing transgender individuals to join the army. But these changes don't always mirror the policies in each state, Michigan being one of them. Here are five ways Michigan has hit below the bar in becoming a progressive state in America.
1. In Michigan, you can be fired for being gay.
Michigan is one of the 32 states that offers little to no protection for LGBT people in the workforce. Although state employees cannot be discriminated against for their sexual orientation, any other employer can fire someone for being lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender. The United States Supreme Court just deemed a ban on gay marriage unconstitutional, which is a huge win for civil rights, but yet if you actually marry someone of the same sex or identify as a different gender than what you were assigned at birth, you can be denied employment.
What’s even worse? The Michigan House of Representatives is currently contemplating going through with a bill that knocks out any local anti-discrimination laws. What does this mean? Any cities or counties with anti-discrimination laws for LGBT in place will be removed to be level with the state or federal laws. Not cool, Michigan.
2. We just passed a law making it legal to deny LGBTQ couples the ability to adopt.
With this new law in place, Governor Rick Snyder made it possible for faith-based adoption agencies to deny potential adoptive parents based on conflicting religious beliefs. Not only does this affect same-sex couples but it also affects those who don’t identify as the same religion as the agency, transgender folks, as well as those who are unmarried. The idea is to allow the agencies to run their practice while aligning with the agencies’ religious values and beliefs. This would be great if it wasn’t refuting parents who all have the goal of creating a loving home environment for children in need. These agencies are also all still receiving federal and state funding. It is hard to believe that because you are gay, Jewish, Muslim, or unmarried you are unfit to be a parent. With so many children in foster care, it would seem to me that two dads is immeasurably better than no mom or dad and living in a group home until you're 18. If our first priority is children, why is it that they are the ones who get hit with this law the hardest?
3. Michigan’s “Rape Insurance” bill.
In late 2014, Michigan passed a law requiring women to purchase extra health insurance in order to have abortion procedures covered, unless the woman is in medical danger if she has the baby. This means that if a woman conceives because of rape, her abortion is not covered unless she pays additional funds to her health insurance provider for the “abortion rider before said rape occurs.” This additional insurance is also only offered from seven insurance companies, and is only available through employee-sponsored plans. So in the event that a woman on Medicaid or any woman who purchases their own insurance is raped, she is expected to carry the baby to term if she is unable to come up with the funds for an abortion herself. She's left with an everyday reminder of a tragedy that has happened, and we get another reminder that this state places monetary value above women’s rights.
Watch Michigan Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer's emotional plea to vote down the Rape Insurance bill: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUlKLJ1Dsvk
4. Snyder signed an Executive Order placing the School Reform Office out of the State Board of Education and into the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget.
The first red flag is placing a school reform out of the State Board of Education. The second red flag is that the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget, is under direct management and control of Governor Snyder. This means that instead of the board and the state superintendent making decisions in regards to school reform, Snyder makes all ultimate decisions. Rather than placing these decisions in the hands of the board that is comprised of education professionals and the superintendent who has first-hand experience working with Michigan schools, Snyder is taking over. Citizens can agree that our state needs a school reform. Thirty-six percent of our fourth graders have reading levels below the basic expectancy. But is it best to place the decisions of our schooling in control of a man who has no educational policy background rather than a board comprised of those whose lives are dedicated to education and creating and changing policies that better affect our children? No. The answer is no.
5.Trump is a strong contender in Michigan polls for presidential election 2016.
Most recent polls show that presidential nominee Donald Trump is behind Governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker, by 1 percent in the latest Michigan polls. NO, this is not a problem just in Michigan. Trump is leading the polls in a number of states, but Michigan has fallen victim to believing his shenanigans. Not only does Trump plan on running our country like a business (hopefully not like his corporations that have filed for bankruptcy four times), Trump is offending more people than we can count and sending our country 100 years back in the fight for racial equality.
First, Trump made his comments about Latinos stating that many coming over from Mexico “[Are] bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.” This doesn’t offend just recent immigrants, this offends all Latino’s in our country who have family who came to America or came over themselves to get a piece of this “good life”.
Then, our buddy, Trump, called out Senator John McCain by first stating McCain was not a hero, and then changed his mind instead and said, “He is a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, ok? I hate to tell you." So, it’s OK if you go and fight for our country, but if you get captured during war you’re not OK in Trump’s book anymore. Try telling that to all the veterans of war who risked their life for the U.S.A. and got captured in the process. It’s outright disrespectful to say these men and women aren’t heroes or that we respect them any less.
Trump was also the one who started the conspiracy that President Barack Obama was not born in America. He urged Obama to release his birth certificate to the press, and even after it was released, showing Obama was born in Hawaii, Trump continues to state he doesn’t believe the birth certificate is real. Well, obviously, if your name is Barack Obama and you’re black, there’s no way you can be born in America! Ignorance and racism at its finest.
Lastly, Trump tweeted this awesome response (note sarcasm) to a report about the unreported sexual assaults in the military: “26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” Later he tweeted, “The Generals and top military brass never wanted a mixer but were forced to do it by very dumb politicians who wanted to be politically C!” Thank you, Trump, for letting us know that apparently whenever you put men and women together, rape is prone to happen and our government is the stupid one for allowing both men and women to fight together for our country.
Is Michigan the worst state? No. One article even suggested we are the best state (http://www.thrillist.com/travel/nation/ranking-the...). We just have a long way to go to make our state as progressive as it should be. How can you help? Glad you asked! Check below for more info.
- Interested in signing a petition urging Michigan to pass stronger anti-discrimination laws? Check here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/protect-lgbt-people-in
- Interested in signing a petition letting Michigan know you’re against the RFRA Adoption bill? Check here: http://www.petitions.moveon.org/sign/protect-michigan-kids/?source=search
- Interested in signing a petition showing your stance against the “Abortion Rider” aka “rape insurance bill?” Check here: http://www.petitions.moveon.org/sign/michigan-lawm...
- There is currently no petition to be found against Executive Order 2015-9, placing the School Reform Office under the Department of Technology, Management, and Budget. Consider starting one, or educate yourself and those around you on this issue!
- Want to learn more about where YOU stand in the 2016 presidential election? Check here: http://www.isidewith.com/elections/2016-presidenti...
Sources:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/05/13/michigan-lgbt-laws_n_7276084.html
http://www.vocativ.com/culture/lgbt/lgbt-rights-ka...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/10/michigan-adoption-bill-lgbt-parents_n_7553952.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/13/michigans-abortion-rider-_n_4958517.html
http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2015/0...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/06/24/latinos-d...
http://thelawdictionary.org/article/how-is-donald-trump-able-to-file-for-bankruptcy-so-many-times/
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/20/politics/john-mccain...
http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/PPP_Re...
Tweet picture: https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/3319073...
