Michigan Republicans may pair gay rights amendment with 'religious freedom' act

[rug]

House Speaker Jase Bolger, R-Marshall (File Photo | MLive.com)

By Jonathan Oosting
on September 19, 2014 at 6:53 AM, updated September 19, 2014 at 12:23 PM

LANSING, MI — If Michigan’s Republican-led Legislature does amend state law to protect gay residents from discrimination, leadership may also move to affirm religious freedom in a separate bill.

House Speaker Jase Bolger says businesses should not be able to fire employees for being gay but is not supporting anti-discrimination bills introduced last week by Democrats. He's trying to find what he calls a “necessary balance” between gay rights and religious liberty.

Bolger is exploring the possibility of pairing an Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act amendment with a Michigan version of the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which aims to limit laws that would substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion.

“I believe our society’s got to get this right, and we’ve got to get this right more than we’ve got to get it now,” Bolger, R-Marshall, told MLive. “That right, for me, is one that respects and protects individual freedom and religious liberty. It’s just so much easier to say than to do.”

http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/09/michigan_may_pair_gay_rights_a.html

My father used to call people like this blubberheads.

[pinto]

1. "...substantially burden a person’s free exercise of religion." ???

LOL.

I've seen no recent laws that prohibit individual religious observances. Catholic masses remain open for all, as do other Christian observances. I've attended a local synagogue's services. Have accompanied an old friend to a Buddhist prayer ceremony. If there was a local mosque, I'd look into attending Friday prayers.

Saw no substantial burden in any venue I attended. Folks of all faiths seem pretty free to exercise their religion.

I know what the point here is, though. It's bigotry under a "benign" cover and misappropriation of the 1st Amendment.

[longship]

2. Blubberheads? A good turn of phrase.

Well worth an R&

As a nearly lifelong Michigan resident, and 38 year Detroit resident -- yes, within the city limits -- I am utterly shocked by Michigan's turn to the dark side. In my lifetime even Republican MI governors were progressives. My favorite governor was Soapy Williams, who became a lauded state Supreme Court justice. (Look it up.)

My favorite Detroit mayors were Cobo, and Jerry Cavanaugh, the latter who turned Detroit around after the 1967 riots with a little help from the Detroit Tigers 1968 World Series championship.

I still love my home city, although I no longer live there.