Protection for LGBTQ People Under Michigan Civil Rights Law

In 2019 the Michigan Department of Civil Rights (MDCR) began investigating two companies that refused to provide their services to LGBTQ people. The companies sued MDCR in state court, arguing that Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) prohibits discrimination based on sex but not based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The Michigan Court of Claims ruled that ELCRA does prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, but that it was bound by a 1993 Michigan Court of Appeals decision to rule that ELCRA does not prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation. On appeal, the ACLU of Michigan, joined by national and state LGBTQ organizations, filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the Michigan Supreme Court, urging the Court to bypass the Court of Appeals and take up the case immediately to overrule the 1993 decision and hold that discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity are both forms of discrimination based on sex prohibited by ELCRA. The Supreme Court granted the request and allowed the ACLU to participate in oral argument in March 2022. In July 2022 the Court ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is sex discrimination in violation of ELCRA. As a result of this decision, LGBTQ people in Michigan have some of the most comprehensive civil rights protections in the country against discrimination in employment, housing, education and public services and accommodations. (Rouch World LLC v. Michigan Department of Civil Rights; ACLU Attorneys Jay Kaplan and Dan Korobkin; Cooperating Attorneys Leah Litman and Daniel Deacon of U-M Law School.)