Highlighting LGBTQ+ Lobby Day
By Cole Beehn (they/them)
In a nonpartisan effort to push for safer legislation for Michigan’s LGBTQ+ population, over 80 Michiganders along with Equality Michigan, the Human Rights Campaign, and The Trevor Project converged on the State Capitol in Lansing on May 9th to meet with both House and Senate representatives for LGBTQ+ Lobby Day. On the docket were 2 initiatives of great importance: banning conversion therapy and codifying the process for changing names, birth certificates, and gender markers for transgender and nonbinary communities.
Monroe County Democrats Cole Beehn and Shawna Farley, acting in their roles as Michigan citizens, attended this event and advocated on behalf of these 2 goals. Meeting in the morning with Senator (D) Darrin Camilleri’s staff, they were joined by 5 others to not only educate on the effects of these pieces of legislation, but to share personal stories with those who may not be a part of the LGBTQ+ community. In the afternoon, they met with House Representative (D) Jaime Churches and her staff, as well.
One member opened the 20 minute long meeting by discussing what it was like as a parent of a transgender youth seeking therapy for her child without knowing the potential dangers of stumbling into conversion therapy. According to The Trevor Project, “Conversion therapy refers to a range of dangerous and discredited practices aimed at changing one’s sexual orientation or gender identity.” Equality Michigan shared that studies have shown that roughly 15% of youth have been subjected to or threatened with conversion therapy, (1) and those who have gone through this process are twice as likely to attempt suicide. (2) Banning conversion therapy would not stop members of religious organizations from taking part in this practice. However, it would put an end to its use by state licensed therapists across Michigan, saving countless parents and children the heartache of seeking professional help, only to find that their practitioner of choice is not using evidence-based best practices in this field.
Cole shared their experience changing their name and gender marker. The whole process for changing one’s name outside of getting married is costly, daunting, and in some ways, quite dangerous. For Cole, it cost roughly $300, and they had to get their fingerprints run at the police station. Then they had to pay for an ad in the newspaper announcing their intent and the date and location of their court hearing. Their home address and legal name at the time were printed for all to see. This was done to give the public the opportunity to object to the name change in court. Thankfully they did not run into any opposition, but this is not the case for all people.
Although the process for name changes is not ideal, changing the gender marker is now a piece of cake thanks to Secretary of State, Jocelyn Benson. According to Equality Michigan, only 11% of transgender people reported that they had matching IDs displaying their proper name and gender marker, while 68% reported having no IDs with their proper name or gender marker. “Nearly one third of respondents who have shown an ID with a name or gender that did not match their gender presentation were verbally harassed, denied benefits or service, asked to leave, or assaulted,” (3) shared Emme Zanotti, Director of Advocacy & Civic Engagement of Equality Michigan. As it stands now, a new Secretary of State could easily reverse this progress, so our main focus was to urge our Representatives to codify this practice into state law.
Cole and Shawna were meant to end the day meeting with their representative Senator (R) Joe Bellino, but unfortunately, he had to cancel just a few hours before. Cole reached out to Senator Bellino later in the day to see if he would be able to meet on another day in Monroe. Their meeting is pending. All in all, the day was full of affirmation, queer joy, and meaningful conversations with our state’s elected officials. This is what it means to be civically engaged!
Taylor Alpert, Shawna Farley, Rep. Jaime Churches, Cole Beehn and Unnamed Advocate
