News & Commentary

Kary Moss, ACLU of Michigan executive director, issued the following statement today after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy announced her decision to clear an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in the controversial April killing of Detroit man Terrance Kellom:

In the wake of two recent attacks against transgender women in Detroit, the ACLU of Michigan is again calling on legislators to update state civil-rights protections and hate-crime laws to include safeguards for gender identity and sexual orientation. Jay Kaplan, staff attorney for the ACLU of Michigan LGBT Project, issued the following statement today:

I attended the first Law for Black Lives Conference in New York last week. The Conference—filled with attorneys, law students, legal-aid workers and others affiliated with the legal community—had one theme: How do we use the law to protect black lives?

Despite the recent landmark Supreme Court ruling in favor of the freedom to marry, the road to full equality for everyone in our state continues to be pocked with obstacles. Few obstacles currently loom as large as the potential danger of SB 4, the "religious freedom restoration act" (RFRA) now being debated in the state legislature.

With summertime in full swing, the House is on break through August—but the Senate will be working a least through the end of June. Senate leadership scheduled the summer session so that they could advance a road funding plan, and if that plan is approved I suspect they will take the remainder of the summer off as well.

Marriage equality came to the U.S. when the Supreme Court handed down the Obergefell v Hodges decision. This ruling was the culmination of decades of effort by lesbian, gay and bisexual communities to be viewed with equal dignity and respect by our society. That victory didn’t come without first winning the hearts and minds of more than 60 percent of the American public.

Still No Movement on Roads

It took a while for LeeAnne Walters to realize the full impact of the number: 13,200.

In a place that bills itself the Great Lakes State, you'd think people would understand and appreciate the universally critical importance of water.