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   LANSING, Mich. (AP) — The Michigan Supreme Court on Tuesday declined   
   to hear the appeal of an LGBTQ-rights ballot committee that   
   contended officials wrongly disqualified tens thousands of voter   
   signatures it submitted for an initiative to prohibit discrimination   
   based on sexual orientation or gender identity.   
      
   The decision, issued in a short order, came months after the Board   
   of State Canvassers declined to certify the petitions. Election   
   officials had determined Fair and Equal Michigan had about 263,000   
   valid signatures, roughly 76,000 short.   
      
   The proposal would have revised the state’s 1976 civil rights law to   
   prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender   
   identity in employment, housing and public accommodations.   
   Organizers wanted to place the measure before the Republican-led   
   Legislature, where similar legislation has long stalled. If   
   lawmakers did not act, it would have gone to a statewide vote in   
   November 2022.   
      
   “While we are disappointed that the court won’t act to recognize   
   legally-valid signatures thrown out by the state, it’s clear the   
   best opportunity to achieve LGBTQ equal rights in Michigan is to   
   place full focus on Attorney General Dana Nessel’s historic case   
   currently before the Michigan Supreme Court,” Fair and Equal   
   Michigan Co-Chair Trevor Thomas said in a statement.   
      
   The court previously agreed to consider whether Michigan’s existing   
   ban against sex discrimination covers sexual orientation and gender   
   identity. The lawsuit was filed by Rouch World, a Sturgis-based   
   wedding venue and park, and Marquette-based Uprooted Electrolysis   
   after they refused services to a same-sex couple and a transgender   
   woman who subsequently filed complaints with the state Department of   
   Civil Rights.   
      
   The companies sued before the agency issued its findings.   
      
   In 2018, the department began processing complaints of   
   discrimination against LGBT people after the state Civil Rights   
   Commission issued an interpretive statement. It said that   
   discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity   
   is a form of sexual discrimination outlawed under Michigan law.   
      
   A Court of Claims judge last December agreed that gender identity   
   discrimination is sexual discrimination but ruled the opposite for   
   sexual orientation discrimination, saying he was bound by a 1993   
   state appeals court decision. The state Supreme Court will consider   
   whether the state’s current law protects against sexual orientation   
   discrimination.   
      
   “It’s long past time for our state to recognize sexual orientation   
   as protected from discrimination under the law,” Nessel, a Democrat,   
   said last week after her office filed a brief in the case.   
      
   Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a federal civil rights   
   law protects gay, lesbian and transgender people from discrimination   
   in employment. Supporters of the Michigan measure have said it would   
   protect against discrimination in housing and public accommodations   
   and provide broader employment protections than federal law   
   provides.   
      
   https://apnews.com/article/business-discrimination-michigan-   
   legislature-gender-identity-5fd888864d52d91d34ca69e906bb9f78   
      
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