[nfbmi-talk] Fw: snyder to visit mcrc

[David Robinson]

It was suggested we talk to these guys about the Metro airport issue.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: joe harcz Comcast 
To: terry Eagle 
Cc: David Robinson NFB MI ; Mark Eagle 
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 9:05 AM
Subject: snyder to visit mcrc


What Snyder doesn’t know about civil rights and especially those of people with disabilities, including, of course we who are blind is a lot. For that matter the MCRC in my personal experience is clueless about the ADA and Section 504 and violates them both itself.

 

Joe

 

Snyder to make rare appearance at civil rights panel LANSING Gov. Rick Snyder, in a rare move for a sitting governor, is to appear today before the Michigan

Civil Rights Commission. But a Snyder spokeswoman downplayed expectations the governor would have anything new to say about two hot civil rights issues

same-sex marriage and expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to include the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community. "He's just

providing an update ... and to highlight priorities in the upcoming year," Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Sunday. Vicki Levengood, a spokeswoman for

the Michigan Department of Civil Rights, said today's appearance by Snyder will be the first time in at least three administrations that a sitting governor

has appeared before the Civil Rights Commission. The department was still researching the issue and wasn't sure whether former Democratic Gov. James Blanchard,

who preceded Republican Gov. John Engler, appeared before the commission, she said. Snyder's predecessor, Democratic Gov. Jennifer Granholm, appeared before

the commission when she was state attorney general, but never as governor, Levengood said. At his State of the State address on Tuesday, Snyder urged lawmakers

to debate expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act without explicitly calling on lawmakers to pass such an expansion. If the civil rights law is

expanded, Snyder hasn't said whether the expanded coverage should include only lesbian, gay and bisexual people, or also transgender people. That question

stalled legislation in the last session, after LGBT advocates and many Democrats said they wouldn't support the proposed legislation because it left transgender

people behind. Snyder hasn't said whether he would support an expansion of the civil rights law only in combination with another proposed law that would

add safeguards for people with sincerely held religious beliefs. An oft-cited example is the Colorado baker who cited religious reasons for refusing to

bake and decorate a cake for a same-sex couple's wedding. Snyder said in the last session he viewed the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act expansion and the

Religious Freedom Restoration Act as a "package," but hasn't explicitly said whether he would sign one without the other. On same-sex marriage, Snyder

said in a 2010 gubernatorial primary debate that marriage is "between a man and a woman but people should also have the ability to make contracts between

themselves. Since then, he has refused to state his position on same-sex marriage, other than to say that he will follow the law. In 2004, a Michigan constitutional

amendment to ban same-sex marriage passed with 59% support from voters. Last March, a federal judge in Detroit ruled that provision unconstitutional. The

U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision in November and the Michigan case is among those the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear in

April. In addition to his priorities for the year, Snyder will likely talk about his "Secure Cities" public safety initiative, in which the Michigan State

Police and Snyder's urban affairs team partners with local communities, faith leaders and groups, business organizations and non-profits, Wurfel said.

On Friday, the Washington, D.C. -based Human Rights Campaign, a national LGBT civil rights organization, in partnership with the Equality Federation, released

a report in which it placed Michigan in the lowest-performing category of U.S. states in terms of LGBT non-discrimination protections. The report said

Michigan is one of 32 states that lack explicit state-level workplace protections for all LGBT employees and is one of 14 states that does not allow same-sex

marriage. Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan at freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @paulegan4.