Two years ago, Michigan Democratic state lawmakers stood united to update the state’s civil rights law to ban discrimination based sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression. But on Wednesday, a small group of Michigan House Democrats broke with the majority of their party to vote for a resolution urging the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSSA) to ban transgender girls from girls’ sports.
LGBTQ+ advocates called the measure an attack on the transgender community and blasted Democratic support for it as a betrayal by a party that has tried to establish itself as the political home for LGBTQ+ people.
“The shift in how Democrats are positioning themselves on issues concerning trans rights is troubling,” said Equality Michigan Executive Director Erin Knott on Thursday. “It’s time to act decisively to take a firm stand and to make it clear we will fight to protect the LGBTQ+ community no matter what, and unfortunately we’re not seeing that same vigor that we did even just last year.”
While Republicans in the Michigan House issued a flurry of statements celebrating their vote on the resolution, the Democrats who supported it stayed silent.
State Reps. Alabas Farhat, of Dearborn, Peter Herzberg, of Westland, Tullio Liberati, of Allen Park, Denise Mentzer, of Mt. Clemens, Reggie Miller, of Van Buren Township, Will Snyder, of Muskegon, Angela Witwer, of Delta Township, and Mai Xiong, of Warren, were the Democrats who voted for the GOP transgender athletes resolution. None responded Thursday to a request for comment on their votes from the Detroit Free Press.
The House resolution, which does not carry the weight of law, called on the MHSAA to adhere to President Donald Trump’s executive order aimed at banning transgender athletes from girls’ and women’s sports, which calls for rescinding funding from educational programs that don’t comply.
Every Republican lawmaker in the Michigan House voted for the resolution in addition to the eight Democrats. Republicans hold a 58-52 majority in the House.
But in the Michigan Senate — controlled by Democrats — Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, expressed no interest in seeing lawmakers in her chamber follow the House with their own resolution on transgender athletes. “We will not be attacking kids. We will not be taking this up,” Brinks said in a statement Thursday.
The Michigan Democratic Party’s platform on its website includes several references to protecting the LGBTQ+ community, including support for the “full inclusion of LGBTQ+ families in the life of our state.” Michigan Democratic Party spokesperson Tommy Kubitschek did not respond to a request for comment on House Democrats’ support for the transgender athletes resolution.
Jerron Totten, who chairs the party’s LGBT & Allies Caucus, called it a huge disappointment to see some House Democrats support the resolution on transgender athletes. “There are so many other issues that are more pressing, more concerning more alarming than trans kids playing sports. And I think we as voters are looking for legislators that will address those issues and not scapegoat marginalized communities,” he said.
Totten and Knott said they have heard concerns from LGBTQ+ people who don’t feel like they have a home in either political party right now.
“The Democratic Party chose a different way than what we normally would think they would,” said Jeffrey Pienela president of Muskegon Pride, a LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that also hosts a yearly gay pride festival. “It’s surprising. It’s almost like who has your back when neither party does?” Snyder — the Democrat who represents Muskegon in the Michigan House — joined Republicans to support the transgender athletes resolution.
The Democratic vote breakdown on the resolution in the House didn’t show any clear electoral pattern. While some of the eight Democrats who voted for it hail from politically competitive districts, the group includes those from safely Democratic districts, too.
“My assessment of yesterday’s vote is that we have a number of Democrats who were concerned that voting ‘no’ on the resolution would hurt their own chance of reelection and hinder their community from supporting them. And there were some folks that are in very safe seats that also voted ‘yes’ on the resolution,” said Emily Dievendorf, D-Lansing. They said they pleaded three times with members of their caucus to vote ‘no’ on the resolution.
“I think that there is a lack of understanding around how much our communities support (LGBTQ+) rights. There is no evidence to support the assumption that we would lose the support of our … constituencies if we stood up for trans and nonbinary folks,” said Dievendorf, who is nonbinary.
Meanwhile, other Democrats from swing districts voted against the resolution. And some House Democrats have made moves to stand up for LGBTQ+ rights in Michigan.
Last week, state Rep. Jason Morgan, D-Ann Arbor — who is a married gay man — proposed an amendment to the Michigan Constitution to remove the state’s unenforceable ban on gay marriage. State Rep. Jennifer Conlin, D-Ann Arbor Charter Township, introduced a resolution Thursday to support the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, which guaranteed marriage equality. Conlin called the issue a personal one, noting that she has a daughter in the LGBTQ+ community and daughter-in-law. “But no one should need a personal connection to care about equality,” she said in a statement. “Michigan must continue to stand on the side of inclusion and ensure that discrimination has no home in our laws or in our communities.”
The MHSAA issues waivers on a case-by-case basis to transgender athletes who wish to compete in girls’ sports. It issued waivers allowing two transgender girls to participate in fall 2024 sports. It received no waiver requests for the 2024-25 winter season and has not issued any waivers for the spring.
Republican women lawmakers who voted for the legislation condemned MHSAA Thursday, saying the association has continued to defy Trump’s executive order. “We are hoping they listen to common sense and agree to the demands in my resolution,” said state Rep. Jaime Greene, R-Richmond, in a statement Thursday. She called the association’s actions illegal and said they risk federal funding and a fair and safe environment for girls who play sports.
The MHSAA “follows and will continue to follow all applicable state and federal laws,” MHSAA Director of Communications Geoff Kimmerly said in a statement, which went on to say that the association is “monitoring developments in this regard closely, including federal litigation challenging the recent Executive Order and potential changes to state law that have been introduced in the Michigan legislature. … Until those matters are resolved, the MHSAA is not in a position to change its current rules or policies, which again comply with applicable state and federal law.”
According to a report by the Williams Institute, a UCLA law school think tank that studies gender identity and sexual orientation law and policy, there are about 300,100 transgender youth ages 13-17.
It estimates that as many as 122,000 trans youth may be participating in sports at the high school level. It does not have breakdowns for how many of those athletes are transgender boys and how many are transgender girls.
“We do know with certainty that a lot of these attacks coming down from the federal level and being echoed at the state level are meant to create chaos and distract from other things, put us at war with each other while our democracy is … being unraveled,” Dievendorf said.
Contact Clara Hendrickson atchendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743. Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com
