So here’s the rundown from this morning.
The LGBTIQ (whatever that stands for anymore) crowd, along with PFLAG, Sterling Heights “One Love”, Unity Michigan, several Unitarian Ministers and some guy from the Michigan ACLU had about twice as supporters on hand compared to those against granting special rights and infringing upon Religious Liberty.
The meeting had a last-minute addition shoved onto the agenda which delayed the consideration & vote for almost an hour and a half due to a “closed session” item (and no, I have no idea what that was all about).
The final vote on the “Human Rights Policy” was 8-5 broken down like this:
Yeas:
Flynn-d
Tocco-d
Boyle-d
Moceri-d
Sauger-d
Klinefelt-d
Miller-d
Smith-d
Nays were as follows:
Carabelli-R
Brown-R
Vosburg-R
Sabatini-R
and
Mijac-d
Now you may ask yourself, why did one “d” break off from the group.
Well, it seems that something like 6,000 signatures on a petition drive against a similar ordinance in Sterling Heights just last night changed the Commissioner’s mind.
Before anyone gets any ideas, the Macomb BoC specified that this be done as a “policy” and not an ordinance or anything else due to the fact county policies cannot be sent before the voters.
One last thing: after the input from PFLAG, Sterling Heights “One Love”, Unity Michigan, and that Michigan ACLU rep, one section of the policy was held back from final approval.
It seems that the religious exemptions included in the policy (start on page 9) were a little too broad for them.
They will be revising the religious language and resubmitting them for board approval at a later date.
I’ll pass along more info as it becomes available.
(10)Nuh Uh.
(0)
It seems to me that a version of what happened in Sterling Heights ought to happen county-wide, and toot sweet. A little dispatch in organizing a citizen-initiated ordinance to overturn the "policy" might just tar the skids that the pink triangle crowd is trying to grease.
All I can say right now is that e-mails and phone calls are being made.
Aside from that, the sponsor of this policy (Comm. Miller) did state earlier that they had thoroughly ran this through their legal staff to withstand any challenges.