‘Feel-good legislation’

This story was updated on Sept. 30 to include comments from Trustee Milton Scales.

Monday, Sept. 30 — The Lansing Association for Human Rights Political Action Committee expressed “shock and disbelief” toward three members of the Meridian Township Board of Trustees' concerns over a proposed non-discrimination ordinance there. Particularly, the group took issue with one trustee who called it “feel-good legislation.”

At a Sept. 17 board meeting, Trustee Milton Scales said, “We should not be doing feel-good legislation” when speaking about his opposition to such an ordinance. Scales believes that such protections — while he supports them for the LGBT community — should come from the state or federal government. He said that the maximum $500 penalty for violating the ordinance would not be a strong enough deterrent, whereas fines could reach up to tens of thousands of dollars for violating a statewide law. (Here's a link to video of the meeting. Scales' comments come shortly after the one-hour and nine-minute mark.)

“It was with shock and disbelief that LAHR PAC recently received reports that the Meridian Township Board has flinched in the process of passing an all-inclusive nondiscrimination ordinance,” LAHR-PAC President Penny Gardner wrote Friday in a letter addressed to the board. “One trustee has been reported as saying discrimination protections in employment is ‘feel-good legislation.’ Nothing could be further from the truth. On the contrary, I can assure you that it does not feel good to be fired for being LGBT. Failing to adopt a comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinance will allow this type of anti-LGBT discrimination to persist in Meridian Township.”

Scales said today: "If someone wants to fire you" because of your sexual orientation or gender identity, "do you think $500 will do something about that? That's why I call it feel-good legislation."

Scales also said that the complaint-driven ordinance would overburden the township’s Human Resources Department and open the township up to litigation.