License to Discriminate - New Law in Michigan

Over the weekend, Republicans in the Michigan Statehouse passed a “license to discriminate” bill that would give just about anyone the right to refuse service to LGBT people if it conflicted with their religious beliefs.

The broadly written Religious Freedom Restoration Act would allow, for example, an EMT to refuse emergency treatment to a gay person or a pharmacist to refuse to refill HIV medication, because God decreed gays and lesbians should be put to death.

The measure is similar to one in Arizona that even right-wing governor Jan Brewer thought went too far and vetoed.

As The New Civil Rights Movement points out, the act is so broad it would let a Catholic high school refuse to hire a Muslim janitor, and a DMV clerk deny a new driver’s license to someone who is divorced.


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  • Yes, GOP gerrymandering has allowed them to keep control of the state Senate even though Michigan is a blue state.

    From the “Daily Kos”:

    “Despite the fact that Michigan is a blue state, the Republicans not only control the state senate but have a two-thirds majority: 26 Republican seats to only 12 Democratic seats. Now some of that is due to the disastrous 2010 elections allowing Republicans to pick up (or hold) several Democratic-leaning seats, but it is more about the gerrymandering.”
    Read more at:
    www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/10/1312805/-A-Stro … d-options#
    rjzip 12/10/2014 11:26 AM
  • Is Michigan another state that has been victimized by GOP line-drawing?

    It's actually a pretty blue state in presidential elections.
    BearinFW 12/09/2014 09:05 PM
  • Doankyl, SNOPES is a fact-checking site that says: "The Michigan House of Representatives has passed a religious freedom bill that might potentially allow emergency medical personnel to exercise religious objections to treating gay patients.

    Although . . . " . . . it cannot be definitively stated the RFRA would "exempt emergency medical personnel from treating gay people" — that supposition would be the case only if some medical practitioner actually refused to treat a gay patient on religious grounds and challenged the law requiring him to do so by asserting the RFRA as a defense."

    And it further states: "What RFRA will do is give businesses and landlords the opportunity to contest everything in court, and force individuals who are now able to live discrimination-free lives to demonstrate that the government has a compelling interest in making those landlords act in a nondiscriminatory fashion. Even if that individual prevails, he will have spent a lot of time and money, and may be out of a job or out of a home while he's waiting."
    rjzip 12/09/2014 11:12 AM
  • I think you have your info wrong. The RFRA doesn't allow EMTs to refuse treatment or pharmacies to with old medication. They operate under different laws. It is only for private businesses like a baker or book store. Anyone given state or federal grants are not legally allowed to with old services
    doankyl 12/09/2014 06:58 AM