Watershed Voice Executive Editor & Publisher Alek Haak-Frost addresses the harmful and factually inaccurate messaging making its rounds on social media regarding Three Rivers Pride.
LGBTQ
Emme Zanotti writes, “American moms and dads are being punished for loving their transgender children. Stop and think about that. The LGBTQ community is on the verge of access to vital familial and societal acceptance, but from Lansing to Washington D.C., Republicans are impeding that progress — by prosecuting parents.”
The event focused on disparities in health care, homelessness and the availability of jobs for LGBTQ people.
Fair and Equal Michigan, the group aiming to amend the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to expand anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ+ residents, filed an appeal with the Michigan Supreme Court Wednesday after the Board of State Canvassers last week rejected the group’s petition.
LGBTQ+ representation in elected offices has taken big strides in the last year nationwide, especially on the local level in Michigan, according to a recent study.
President Pro-Tem of the Colon Village Council Eddie Leboeuf plans to introduce a resolution tonight to officially recognize June as Pride Month in Colon, a distinction Leboeuf says is long overdue.
Among bills introduced by the Michigan Legislature this month, gay conversion therapy would be prohibited for minors under SB 367, sponsored by Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-Royal Oak), or HB 4651, sponsored by Rep. Felicia Brabec (D-Pittsfield). At least three Michigan cities have previously banned the practice, which, according to the Human Rights Campaign, falsely claim to change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
State lawmakers have introduced bills in March on topics ranging from expanding unemployment benefits to protecting members of the LGBTQ community from discrimination to barring employers from requiring workers to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Rick Haglund writes, “Lee Chatfield did more to advance the cause of diversity, inclusion and equity in Michigan workplaces in the past two weeks than he did in six years as a state lawmaker.”
The Kalamazoo City Commission voted unanimously Monday to withdraw from Southwest Michigan First’s “Council of 100” partnership, before City Commissioner Erin Knott passed a motion to also withdraw $10,000 in annual funding to the agency over former state House Speaker Lee Chatfield’s anti-LGBTQ views. Chatfield was recently named CEO of the Kalamazoo-based economic development agency.
WSV’s Aundrea Sayrie writes about the man behind the March on Washington, Civil Rights icon Bayard Rustin. This event and plenty more surrounding Martin Luther King, Jr.’s achievements fail to recognize his right-hand man. It was Rustin who had strategically organized the march in only eight weeks.