Governor Gretchen Whitmer and Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist issued a proclamation marking June as Pride Month to recognize the accomplishments of LGBTQ+ Michiganders.
“LGBTQ+ Michiganders are an essential part of who we are, and they make our state a better place to live and work,” said Governor Whitmer.
“Members of our LGBTQ+ community deserve full protection under the law so they can live their authentic lives. We still have work to do to make Michigan a truly inclusive state and we must expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act because the vaccine for discrimination is legislation. I encourage all Michiganders to recognize and celebrate the contributions of the LGBTQ+ community this Pride Month.”
“With more than 370,000 members of the LGBTQ+ community calling Michigan home, LGBTQ+ individuals are our neighbors, relatives, and friends,” Lt. Governor Gilchrist said.
«I’m proud to be the first openly LGBTQ+ person elected to statewide office in Michigan and look forward to celebrating Pride Month,» Nessel said.
June 2021 celebrates Pride Month to commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, an event recognized as a catalyst for the modern LGBTQ+ Civil Rights Movement. Michigan is home to an estimated 373,000 residents who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer.
Governor Whitmer called on the Legislature in her first State of the State Address to pass legislation to expand the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include protections from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identification in employment, education, housing, and real estate as well as use of public accommodations and public services. Governor Whitmer was also the first governor to fly the Pride Flag on a State of Michigan building in 2019.
Governor Whitmer also signed Executive Directive 2019-09 to expand protections for LGBTQ+ state employees and has also issued a statement of support regarding the Supreme Court’s historic ruling on LGBTQ+ protections, which deemed that the 1964 Civil Rights Act protects gay, lesbian, and transgender individuals from discrimination based on sex.
Michigan has been at the forefront of advancing civil rights for LGBTQ+ people beginning with the nation’s first non-discrimination ordinance passed in 1972 in East Lansing and the nation’s first Civil Rights Commission to independently recognize that discrimination “because of sex” includes sexual orientation and gender identity in 2018.
