Lansing Democrats are quietly but quickly ramming through a dangerous bill that could have devastating consequences for Michigan voters, especially women and girls, and religious organizations. Newly reintroduced Senate Bill 4 adds a new class of so-called “protections” for gender and sexual “identity” and “expression.” Businesses would no longer be able to offer the safety and privacy of female-only bathrooms and locker rooms for women and girls. During its’ brief time in committee, the Michigan Catholic Conference was among the groups seeking exemptions for religious organizations. Despite their good faith attempts to add these reasonable exemptions, the Democrats denied these requests and referred the bill to a full floor vote without amendment, putting them at risk of legal action for their religious convictions. Healthcare providers could be forced to provide surgeries that violate their religious conscience or medical judgment.
As Michigan Catholic Conference points out, every single one of the 22 states with a similar law, including the District of Columbia, has included protections for religious organizations. Until now. The Michigan Democrats, operating on a razor-thin majority in a swing state, would have the most radical version of this law anywhere in the country.
As excerpted from SB4: “a person shall not do any of the following: Deny an individual the full and equal enjoyment of the goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, or accommodations of a place of public accommodation or public service because of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or marital status.”
Elsewhere in the document, the bill mirrors these demands for accommodations in “educational institutions” without a mention of Constitutionally mandated 1st amendment religious exemptions.
Simply put, women and girls are at physical risk in bathrooms and changing rooms in local gyms and retail stores, schools will be forced to hire and accommodate gender-confused individuals and there is no exemption for private, faith-based schools.
We need your help now. Please contact as many Michigan Senators as you are able and DEMAND they reject this bill in its current form. You can find a list of Senators here.
Please share this post with everyone you know.