Tag Archives: michigan

Michigan Democrats at the halfway point

Politics

The Michigan Legislature adjourned sine die early this session because of the election of two Democratic House members to mayorships, which ended up splitting the House until replacements win their special elections.

Unfortunately, due to a combination of constitutional and statutory constraints, the special elections may not be held for months into 2024, and the next session will be significantly cut short.

I’m thinking about what bills didn’t make it to the finish line:

  • bills to end prison gerrymandering
  • bills to repeal sodomy laws on the books
  • a more comprehensive bill to repeal bans on abortion

Michigan voters of whatever persuasion still have time to place citizen initiatives on the 2024 ballot. A few examples from Ballotpedia:

    • National Popular Vote Interstate Compact Initiative
    • Legalization of Psilocybin Mushrooms and Other Plants and Fungi Initiative
    • Allow Prisoners to Earn Sentencing Credits Initiative
    • $15 Minimum Wage Initiative
    • Decertify 2020 Election Initiative
    • Prohibit Installation of Utility-Scale Solar Installations on Agricultural-Zoned Land Initiative
    • Provide that the Executive Branch and State Legislature are Subject to Public Information Requests Initiative
    • Prohibit Property Taxes Amendment

    Sodomy law repeal update (19 May 2023)

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    As of 19 May 2023:

    • Maryland: HB0131, decriminalizing oral sex, will become law without signature on Oct 1 2023.
    • Massachusetts: H1640/S913 no closer to passage for the last five months. They have until November 15.
    • Michigan: two three House bills (HB4431, HB4432, HB4433), all introduced 4/19/23. Twitter user @LGBTmarriage notes that neither bill repeals “the ‘gross indecency’ laws that also ban consensual private gay and straight sex (750.338, 338a and 338b).” Hope to see this fixed. Unlike the other three legislatures, Michigan has all year to get this done.
    • Minnesota: Some of the text of HF91/SF70 folded into HF2890/SF2909, passed and signed into law. Gay sex is now statute-legal in Minnesota, as well as “adultery” and “fornication”; abortion-related language in HF91 still being worked out before the session ends on Monday (May 22). Thanks to Rob Salerno @LGBTMarriage for the news.

    ONCE AGAIN, it really shouldn’t be taking this long to remove some archaic swords of Damocles from over the heads of LGBT people in blue trifecta states.

    Also, the Texas bill died before getting a vote in the House. Of course.

    But anyway, two down, two blue trifectas with anti-gay-sex laws to go. Progress.

    Progress on Blue Trifecta Sodomy Repeal (End of April 2023)

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    As of 28 April 2023:

    • Maryland: HB0131, decriminalizing oral sex, is still waiting for governor’s signature
    • Massachusetts: H1640/S913 have been reconciled and are sitting in the Joint Committee on the Judiciary
    • Michigan: two House bills (HB4431 and HB4432), both introduced 4/19/23. Twitter user @LGBTmarriage notes that neither bill repeals “the ‘gross indecency’ laws that also ban consensual private gay and straight sex (750.338, 338a and 338b).” Hope to see this fixed.
    • Minnesota: HF91 making the rounds in committees. Companion SF70 is in second reading.

    ONCE AGAIN, it really shouldn’t be taking this long to remove some archaic swords of Damocles from over the heads of LGBT people in blue trifecta states.

    Somewhat honorable mention goes to Texas where a bill to repeal the state’s highly-discriminatory ban on gay sex has received majority sponsorship for potential passage. This is somewhat honorable because the bill (drafted by a Democrat) contains a “compromise” proviso preserving existing legislation stating that “homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public” (Christian bullshit as usual).

    Will these four blue trifectas repeal their sodomy laws in 2023?

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    Maryland. Massachusetts. Michigan. Minnesota.

    All four of these states start with M’s. All four have Democratic trifectas – Democrats controlling their governor’s mansions and both houses of their legislatures. And, as of 2023, all four have bans on gay sex on their books.

    I can excuse Michigan and Minnesota (somewhat). Michigan only just gained a Democratic trifecta for the first time since 1983. Minnesota last had a trifecta in 2013-2014, but it was the first time they had such since 1978.

    But Massachusetts and Maryland failing to repeal their bans on gay sex despite having two terms of “moderate” Republican governors and long-time Democratic supermajorities in both houses is inexcusable. Maryland had a bill in 2022 which passed almost unanimously in their House of Delegates but died in Senate committee. Massachusetts had a bill in 2022 which was renumbered, and renumbered again, before passing the Senate and then dying in a House committee.

    Embarrassing. A waste.

    And now a threat thanks to Clarence Thomas’ written attack on Lawrence v. Texas, which has not received any statutory backing federally since 2003 (save for when President Obama signed a repeal of a consensual gay sex ban for the military in the 2014 NDAA).

    Meanwhile, trans-hating, gay-hating Alabama managed to repeal their own sodomy law in 2019 (while cleaning up their criminal code). Utah also did the same in the same year. Trans-hating, gay-hating Idaho repealed theirs last March (in response to a lawsuit).

    Well, at least Michigan stands the likeliest chance to repeal theirs this year, but only because the larger law which criminalizes gay sex (Act 328 of 1931) also criminalizes abortion, blasphemy, adultery and more.

    But the clock is now ticking on all four aforementioned blue trifecta states – Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan and Minnesota – to repeal these stupid laws.

    And, while I’m on it, it’s on Georgia’s Democratic legislators to show the give a shit about LGBT people by filing a bill to repeal O.C.G.A. § 16-6-2. What are you waiting for?

    UPDATE: Here are the bills for this year:

    • Maryland HB0131 (SB0054)
    • Massachusetts HD.1777/SD.203
    • Michigan bills HB4006 and SB2 somehow miss the bans on sodomy, fornication, blasphemy, etc?
    • Minnesota HF 91/SF 70 (would repeal abortion restrictions and possibly several sexual offenses)

    Other unrelated bills I’m watching from these legislatures:

    Bills from legislatures where I’m not expecting much good:

    Fair and Equal Michigan Finds a Way to E-Sign Ballot Petitions

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    I’ll be watching Fair and Equal Michigan’s electronic signature campaign for putting an LGBT anti-discrimination bill on the November ballot. Numerous other organizations have tried gathering signatures by mail or electronically, but many state governments which allow for petitions to put questions on general election ballots specifically mandate (like in Arizona’s constitution for example) that the circulator must witness voters signing the petition in person, and even what sort of ink to use. Courts in Ohio, Montana and Arizona have all ruled against ballot campaigns asking for electronic signatures for such issues as Redistricting reform, Cannabis decriminalization and voting rights expansion, all within the last month.

    The Michigan campaign is doing an end run around this requirement by allowing Michigan voters to:

    1. use two-factor authentication
    2. submit their driver’s license or State ID number
    3. use DocuSign to sign twice, once as a signer and once as a petition circulator
    4. Have their identity checked against voter rolls by the campaign

    Furthermore, the campaign cites that this is covered under both Michigan’s Uniform Electronic Transactions Act (UETA) as well as Executive Order 2020-41, both of which provide that e-signatures for legal documents shall have legal effect and shall not be denied enforceability. If they pull this off and can get the prerequisite number of signatures before May 27, this may be the first statewide ballot question in US history to ever be put on a general election ballot using electronic signatures. This could open a new chapter in direct democracy in the United States.