Whitmer: Please turn on lights to remember pandemic victims
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is asking Michiganders to turn on the lights outside their homes for an hour to remember thousands of people who have died from COVID-19.
The remembrance will occur from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Wednesday, one year after the state first confirmed coronavirus cases. Michigan has seen more than 16,600 confirmed or probable deaths tied to the disease and more than 658,000 infections — spurred by surges last spring and in the fall and winter.
Whitmer said Monday that turning on porch lights will “remember those we’ve lost and remind ourselves that even in times of darkness, we’re in this together. As we mark this occasion, we also look towards the light at the end of the tunnel.”
The authorization of three vaccines will protect people from COVID-19 and help the country and economy return to normal, she said.
Democrats push LGBTQ protections for Michigan
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — LGBTQ protections will be added to state civil rights law either by the legislative process or Michigan voter approval, two Democratic state legislators vowed Monday.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer joined Metro Detroit Sen. Jeremy Moss and Rep. Laurie Pohutsky at a news conference to announce what they believe will be the last push needed to add sexual orientation and gender identity or expression protections to Michigan law, 40 years after the Elliott-Laren Civil Rights Act was signed.
The lawmakers and Whitmer say they believe a majority of people in Michigan support the changes.
Moss said all 16 state Senate Democrats support the legislation alongside co-sponsor Republican Sen. Wayne Schmidt, meaning only one more vote is necessary for there to be a tie that would be broken by Democratic Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II. He was confident some Republicans would support the Senate bill.
Pohutsky said Republican Rep. Tommy Brann signed on as co-sponsor for the House legislation and she is sure other Republicans will vote to pass the bill, even if they don’t want their names on it.
“Unfortunately, as much as we talked about this being a nonpartisan or bipartisan issue, there is still a stigma that this is a Democratic issue and there are representatives on both sides of the aisle who have a personal stake in this,” Pohutsky said.
The two Democrats, among the state’s few openly LGBTQ lawmakers, said a reckoning is coming and that lawmakers who haven’t supported previous such efforts are going to have to take a stand as the bills advance and a ballot initiative nears the Capitol.
Fair and Equal Michigan, an organization committed to protecting the rights of the the state’s LGBTQ community, filed a petition in early 2020 to amend the state’s civil rights law. The petition garnered nearly half a million signatures.
The Legislature can either vote to change the law themselves or pass the ballot initiative to allow Michigan voters to determine the outcome in November 2022.
State Senate Majority Leader Mike Shirkey’s office issued a statement condemning discrimination but voicing concern about protecting religious freedoms.
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