On December 29, 2015, the Michigan State Board of Canvassers approved wording of a petition to amend Michigan’s state constitution to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
What is the likelihood that this petition drive for civil rights will be met with the same type of opposition as was recently used in Houston? In fall of 2015, the opponents of a similar equal-rights-based-on gender measure in Houston used a “men will be allowed to use women’s bathrooms and assault women by claiming to be women” strategy to successfully defeat the Proposition 1 ballot initiative in Houston.
The audio for a TV commercial against Proposition 1 included, “Any man at any time could enter a woman’s bathroom, simply by claiming to be a woman that day,” the ad says. “No one is exempt. Even registered sex offenders could follow women or young girls into the bathroom. And if a business tried to stop them, they’d be fined. Protect women’s privacy. Prevent danger. Vote no on the Proposition 1 bathroom ordinance. It goes too far.”
Experts, including members of law enforcement, say there’s not a connection between these types of gender-based civil rights protections and assaults on women or girls in public bathrooms.
Leaders of organizations including the ACLU of Michigan have expressed the opinion that there is not sufficient support for a gay/transgender civil rights ballot initiative for such an initiative to succeed based on public vote.
It will be interesting to see if the organization backing the initiative, Fair Michigan, can successfully defeat the onslaught of misleading advertising that will likely be unleashed to defeat the measure.