Lansing Township Requested to Revisit New Policy
On January 23, 2018 Lansing Township joined the club. After years of conversations around joining the surrounding local governments in passing nondiscrimination policies to protect LGBTQ people from employment, housing, and public accommodations to make up for the gap in protections that exist without inclusion for LGBTQIA people under Michigan’s civil rights act, Lansing Township made it happen. Ordinance No. 76 was passed. Now LGBTQIA advocates are requesting that, for the good of the affected communities, we go back to the document, open it back up, and make some key changes to ensure those most vulnerable get the protections necessary. LAHR, in a February 1 letter, joined Equality Michigan and the ACLU of Michigan in asking Lansing Township to try again, and this time together.
The enthusiasm Lansing Township showed is not to be discounted. We appreciate the intent. Surely Lansing Township was doing its best to make progress for LGBTQIA people. The policy that resulted, however, reflects what happens when the affected community has not been a part of the process, and there is still an opportunity to fix that and to help those the policy was written to protect.
In the February letter the three LGBTQIA advocacy organizations identified specific changes that needed to be made for the ordinance to accomplish its intended purpose. A copy of the letter can be found here.
LAHR will be working to meet with Lansing Township officials and looks forward to working with statewide advocacy organizations and Lansing Township.