The Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act is Michigan’s basic anti-discrimination law. As the state’s HR community knows, Elliott-Larsen does not—at least yet—protect the employment and housing rights of its LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered) residents. There is a gap there; in its place is a growing patchwork of 28 different municipalities and townships around the state that have enacted their own ordinances prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. Linden recently became the 28th local government. The first was East Lansing, which enacted its ordinance back in 1972.
The trend is accelerating; in the past 17 months, the number of local governments with such ordinances has gone from 18 to 28, with Battle Creek and the townships of Meridian, Oshtemo and Kalamazoo recently joining the list. Twenty-eight is just a fraction of the state’s 1,800 local governments; nevertheless the number of people they affect is increasing as well; 18.4% of the state’s population (1,817,890 people based on 2010 census numbers) currently live in those communities.
It all means that HR departments who do business in any of those locations need to know which ones they are, and exactly what their individual ordinances do and do not do.
The obvious effort by these many local governments to fill in the Elliott-Larsen gap comes even as discussions continue behind the scenes in the legislature about amending the Act to include LGBT protections.
Emily Dievendorf, managing director of Equality Michigan, expressed her group’s optimism about the legislature eventually extending Elliott-Larsen’s protections for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and the transgendered.
“Michigan citizens are ready to see it happen. Michigan businesses are ready to see it happen,” she said. “Some really great conversations are taking place. Both Republicans and Democrats would really like to see a fairer Michigan. I expect us to make more progress a lot sooner than people would expect, and I think everybody’s ready for it.”
Meanwhile, the number of local ordinances continues to grow. East Lansing City Council Member Nathan Triplett expects it to top 30 by then end of this year.
The climate is completely different from 2001. Now, many of these ordinances see little to no opposition. “In just over a decade, there’s been a complete sea change in how people in Michigan respond to the question of whether you can be fired for being gay,” said East Lansing City Council Member Nathan Triplett.
Statewide organization like Unity Michigan, Equality Michigan, the ACLU, KICK, Affirmations, the Ruth Ellis Center and the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity and Inclusion provide data and support to groups that want to create change in their communities. Equality Michigan keeps a list of cities with ordinances as does Unity Michigan. Unless and until Elliott-Larsen is amended, HR professionals need to keep themselves familiar with that list.