Lance Penny Dave Hildenbrand.jpg
Lance Penny, left, and state Sen. Dave Hildenbrand are running for the 29th District Michigan Senate seat.
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KENT COUNTY, MI – A plan by Republican lawmakers to pair gay rights legislation with a religious freedom exemption sabotages the push for LGBT rights, a Michigan Senate hopeful said this morning in Grand Rapids.
Among the questions asked of Lance Penny and three other state Senate candidates at a Friday, Sept. 19, Advocates for Senior Issues forum: Do you support adding sexual orientation to the state’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act that prohibits housing and workplace discrimination?
Penny, an East Grand Rapids Democrat who’s challenging state Sen. Dave Hildenbrand, R-Lowell, for the 29th District Senate seat, said the amendment needs to be passed and signed into law. Then he criticized a GOP idea for separate legislation that would let a business owner fire a gay employee out of religious conviction.
“That’s a terrible thing and it just eviscerates the whole intent of what we’re trying to do,” Penny said. “It’s an outmoded way of looking at the world and it needs to be changed.
“Equality is equality.”
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Deb Havens, left, and state Rep. Peter MacGregor are running for the 28th District Michigan Senate seat.
Deb Haven, a Plainfield Township Democrat who’s seeking the 28th District Senate seat along with state Rep. Peter MacGregor, R-Cannon Township, called the bill to include sexual orientation in the state’s civil rights law “a fair and just and honorable way of treating people.” But MacGregor, while condemning discrimination, voiced support for being able to exercise his own “religious preferences.”
“If this is going to harm what this nation was built on, then I’d have a problem with it,” he said. “If I feel it’s going to harm my religious freedom, then I would have a tough time supporting it.”
Hildenbrand also hedged.
“There shouldn’t be any discrimination of any kind in our state,” he said. “Whatever your preference, it’s your life.
“I don’t know if the Elliot-Larsen Act is the correct place to do that in state law. I don’t know whether I will support that or not.”
Hildenbrand is seeking election to a second four-year term in the state Senate. He beat Democrat David LaGrand in 2010 in a relatively close race. Penny in last month's primary election won the Democratic nomination by a slim margin over Michael Scruggs.
Haven was unopposed for the Democratic nomination to the 28th District seat now held by state Sen. Mark Jansen, R-Gaines Township, who is being term-limited out of office. Instead of seeking a third 2-year term in the state House, MacGregor is vying to succeed Jansen. He beat former state rep Kevin Green in last month's GOP primary.
Michigan House Speaker Jase 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.
Bolger's goal, according to sources familiar with his thinking, is a legal framework that would prevent a Michigan business from firing someone who is gay or denying them service, unless that service involves a form of religious expression.
Matt Vande Bunte covers government for MLive/Grand Rapids Press. Email him at mvandebu@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter and Facebook.