LGBTQ people of Michigan and their Allies: Let's come together as a community and take control of our own destiny at the ballot box in 2018! This is a call to action asking all of the LGBTQ people of Michigan and their allies to sign and widely share this petition, which calls for a ballot initiative campaign in 2018 to finally secure constitutional protections in Michigan for LGBTQ people.

It's time for the LGBTQ citizens of Michigan to rise up and come together in unity to protect our rights. The election of Donald Trump will usher in a new era of discrimination in a state that does not currently offer its LGBTQ citizens any legal protections. In Michigan, it's still completely legal to be fired from your job or denied housing JUST for being LGBTQ. We are also not included under Michigan's hate crimes law, despite facing very serious and violent crimes against us just for being who we are. However, there IS something that we can do to change all of this. We don't have to just sit around and wait for things to get worse. The time for action is NOW!

A ballot initiative in 2018 would seek to amend Article I, Sec. 2. of the Michigan Constitution to finally include sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, and sex as protected classes under the already existing constitutional protections for religion, race, color, and national origin. The language bolded in capital letters is what the ballot proposal would seek to add to Michigan's existing equal protection clause:

No person shall be denied the equal protection of the laws; nor shall any person be denied the enjoyment of his OR HER civil or political rights or be discriminated against in the exercise thereof because of religion, race, color, GENDER, GENDER IDENTITY, SEX, SEXUAL ORIENTATION, or national original. The Legislature shall implement this section by appropriate legislation. WHEN USED IN LAWS OF THIS STATE PROHIBITING DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICES OR POLICIES BASED UPON SEX, RACE AND OTHER FACTORS, 'GENDER' AND 'SEX' SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO INCLUDE GENDER IDENTITY AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION.

These are very uneasy times for our community, and we can't just sit around and wait for things to get worse. The LGBTQ community in Michigan needs to make their voices heard: ACTION NOW. Please sign and share the petition if you believe in securing equal rights for LGBTQ people in Michigan!