LANSING, Mich. — The Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday ruled Michigan's current laws against discrimination based on sex includes a ban on discrimination based on sexual orientation, a ruling that effectively stops businesses from denying services or employment opportunities to the gay community.
The 5-2 decision written by Republican-nominated Justice Elizabeth Clement found that discrimination based on sexual orientation involves bias based on sex because the individual's sexual orientation is "generally determined by reference to their own sex."
"For example, attraction to females in a fellow female is considered homosexual, while the same trait in a male is considered heterosexual; the sex of the individual at issue is necessary to determine their sexual orientation," wrote Clement. "To discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, then, also requires the discriminator to intentionally treat individuals differently because of their sex."
Clement was joined by the court's four Democratic-nominated justices.
The debate over whether the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act contains such a protection for gay individuals or whether such protections should be added to the act through the Legislature has been going on for years.
In 2018, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights announced its interpretation of the law found protection against discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation under the ban on discrimination based on "sex."
The current case in front of the Supreme Court arose in 2019, when the Department of Civil Rights began an investigation into two separate businesses that denied services to a gay couple and person transitioning from a man to a woman.
Sturgis-based Rouch World declined to host and participate in a same-sex wedding ceremony because of religious reservations, and Marquette-based Uprooted Electrolysis denied service to an individual transitioning from a man to a woman, because it conflicted with religious beliefs.
Attorney Dave Kallman filed suit on behalf of the businesses, arguing the department was conducting an investigation based on an allegation not protected by the state's anti-discrimination law.
Court of Claims Judge Christopher Murray ruled in December 2020 that federal court precedent established "gender identity" did fall under the definition of "sex." But Murray said a 1993 Michigan Court of Appeals opinion prevented him from including sexual orientation in that decision.
The 1993 Court of Appeals case was overturned with the Supreme Court's Thursday decision.
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