A judge in Michigan has determined state civil rights law prohibits businesses from discriminating against customers for being transgender, but not on the basis of sexual orientation — a decision the state’s top lawyer on Thursday has vowed to appeal.
In a seven-page decision, Judge Christopher Murray this week ruled case law in Michigan makes clear anti-gay discrimination isn’t covered under the Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, but with no clear precedent on anti-transgender discrimination, the state must defer to U.S.
legal jurisprudence. Although the Michigan Civil Rights Commission has determined anti-LGBTQ discrimination is a form of sex discrimination under state law, Murray reverses the panel with respect to anti-gay and anti-bi