Michigan will be the ‘anti-Florida,’ state leaders say, kicking off Kalamazoo Pride
By Marie Weidmayer | mweidmay@mlive.com
KALAMAZOO, MI – Michigan is a place that is welcoming to everyone, Attorney General Dana Nessel said in Kalamazoo on Friday morning, kicking off the Kalamazoo Pride festival.
A few dozen people wearing pride outfits gathered Friday, June 2, at Arcadia Creek Festival Place, 145 E. Water St. They listened as Nessel and State Sen. Sean McCann, D-Kalamazoo, boasted about Michigan’s new laws and protections for LGBTQ people.
Public events for Kalamazoo Pride start at 6 p.m., Friday and run all day Saturday, June 3.
“One of the things that I’m going to do this year – especially in light of the threats and the dangerous violent diatribes against the LGBTQ community – is, I’m going to do everything I can to be supportive, and that means hitting every pride (festival) in the state,” Nessel said.
YouTube Video of AG Dana Nessel's speech
Nessel was the first openly gay official elected to a statewide office when she won her 2018 race for Attorney General.
Some states are proposing and passing anti-LGBTQ laws, including Florida, which recently expanded “Don’t Say Gay” laws, which in part ban classroom instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in all grades.
“We are fighting constantly every day against forces that are driven by hate and anger and dislike for something that they don’t understand and don’t want to see in our society,” McCann said. “Between the attorney general and the governor, (we’ll) stake out Michigan as the anti-Florida – a welcoming place.”
Nessel said she spent her career in courts, fighting for equal rights and protections for LGBTQ people before there were laws to protect them.
Michigan recently expanded the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect against discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and expression.
Hate crime law in Michigan could also expand to include sexual orientation and gender identity, and Nessel will testify before the Michigan Senate about it on Tuesday, June 6.
Expanding the hate crime law is important because violent actions against LGBTQ people typically start as property crimes or minor assaults before escalating, Nessel said. If those more minor crimes are prosecuted, it can get people into anger management or substance abuse treatment or other helpful programs, she said.
Those treatments will hopefully head off more violent actions, she said.
The Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan and Kalamazoo County Jeff Getting support the expansion, she said.
“I can think of no better way to kick off Pride and Pride month (than) to let everybody know that you have a government that is here to support you, that values you and it’s going to protect you,” Nessel said.
Original article link: https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2023/06/michigan-will-be-the-anti-florida-state-leaders-say-kicking-off-kalamazoo-pride.html
