Michigan legislative action thread
Posted on 05/09/2014 5:09:11 PM PDT by cripplecreek
In a 2-2 vote Tuesday night, the Ypsilanti City Council struck down a resolution supporting gay marriage.
The resolution would have added the city's name to an amicus brief in the case of DeBoer V. Snyder and Schuette, which is in U.S. District Court and will determine the legality of gay marriage in Michigan.
Council members Dan Vogt and Brian Robb voted in support of joining the amicus brief.
Mayor Pro Tem Lois Richardson and Council Member Pete Murdock voted against the resolution. But Murdock spoke in favor of the resolution during council discussion and immediately after his vote stated that he would bring the resolution back at the next meeting.
Since only four council members were present, one vote kills a resolution. Only a council member who votes on the side that rejects the resolution can bring it back to the table.
Mayor Paul Schreiber, Council Member Susan Moeller and Council Member Ricky Jefferson were absent.
Ypsilanti attorney and resident Cameron Getto spoke before the council’s discussion and explained that his firm is gathering support from municipalities, businesses and non-profits for the amicus brief. The brief is a legal document that allows parties other than those involved in the case to state their position and be taken into consideration by the judge.
At its April 1 meeting, the council approved a resolution asking Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette to reconsider the state’s request for a stay of U.S. District Judge Bernard Friedman's March 21 ruling that called the Michigan Marriage Act unconstitutional.
An appeals court issued a temporary stay on Friedman's ruling late on March 22 after hundreds of couples managed to marry. On March 25, the appeals court extended the stay.
Schuette and the state moved forward with the case, which is being heard in the U.S. District Court in Eastern Michigan and is expected to end up before the U.S. Supreme Court.
City Council approved the April 1 resolution by a 6-1 vote, with Richardson voting against it.
At the May 8 meeting, Richardson said she wanted to explain why she voted against the April 1 resolution and why she would be voting against the May 8 resolution.
She said residents who don’t vote often feel like their votes don’t count, and the resolution would only fuel that sentiment because Michigan voters approved a constitutional amendment to define marriage as being between a man and a woman.
“2.7 million people voted for marriage to be one man and one woman and it went in the constitution,” Richardson said. “For one judge to say different and wipe out 2.7 million votes, I say let it go to appeals go through the whole process, so I can say your vote will count.
“One person shouldn’t have power to negate 2.7 million votes, so I will not be supporting this.”
Murdock said Richardson's position baffled him.
“Whatever people voted for it or not – to me it doesn’t matter. people’s rights are not up for referendum,” Murdock said to Richardson, who is African-American. “If the case were up for referendum when Brown vs the (Topeka) Board of Education happened, you wouldn’t have liked that result and that’s why we have a court."
Council Member Vogt joined the discussion.
“This is the 14th and 15th amendment. The majority does not have the right to engage in bigotry by vote otherwise,” Vogt said.
Richardson and Vogt both continued speaking and their voices rose as each tried to make their case. After a few moments, Richardson banged the gavel and ordered Vogt to stop speaking because she said he didn’t have the floor.
Vogt disagreed, but Richardson called for a vote.
After the meeting, Richardson said she would support gay marriage if the circumstances in Michigan were different.
“Marry who you want to marry,” she said.
In 1998, when Ypsilanti and 10 other municipalities in the country passed a non-discrimination ordinance, the ordinance was challenged via referendum by a group opposed to it. The group supporting the ordinance won the election by 12 points. It was only one of two ordinances that were upheld that year.
In 2002, The American Family Association and Tom Monaghan worked to get language inserted into the city charter that said no protections would be provided to anyone who is gay, lesbian or bisexual. Voters defeated that measure by 26 points.
In August 2013, council approved extending benefits to domestic partners, though not same-sex partners specifically.
Ypsilanti has a very large black community including city council members. Part of this is about not wanting one minority group to step on another minority group's toes. The other is simple, we voted to ban gay marriage and no one person should be able to override that decision.
Until the ACLU or some other ultra-liberal gay supporting group threatens to sue.
I think it will take more than a threat. There are several pastor/community organizers in Ypsi who have been calling for the removal of sexual orientation from hate crime laws for a few years now.
In Ypsilanti this is primarily a fight over turf.
Does anyone know what percentage black Ypsilanti’s population is? The reason I ask is that nationally, black Americans tend to be against gay marriage in greater percentages than the population in general.
The racial makeup of the city was 61.5% White, 29.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 3.4% Asian, 1.1% from other races, and 4.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.9% of the population.
However, these small communities can’t afford the cost of lawsuits from such large well financed groups such as the ACLU.
These groups have been targeting small communities by the dozens over the years because they know that most will give up without a fight due to costs of litigation.
But will the ACLU take on blacks against gays in this fight because that is the real issue here.
To the ACLU and other such groups, the Black cause is passe, the gay movement is now the money maker.
Don’t get me wrong, I hope you are right and this community will fight to the bitter end to maintain their right to make laws they think right for their citizens, if it comes to that.
Just the mention of homosexual “marriage” is the new Cialis in this country these days. America has fallen in love with sexual deviancy.
Oh, well, they still have a great beer festival!
After MLK III said that blacks need to vote republican and start getting involved in the tea party today, they’re about to be evicted from the plantation.
That phony “hate crime” probably pissed off a bunch of people.
The last story on it was April 4th.
Still shocked that it was Ypsi. That’s to the left of the City of Ann Arbor.
Still nothing more on the April first “hate crime attack” on the lesbian. I think police will just leave the case open and let it fade away.
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