Michigan | The Adobo Chronicles

DETROIT, Michigan ( The Adobo Chronicles) – The Michigan Senate has passed a bill that effectively reaffirms the state’s unconstitutional law making sodomy a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Michigan is one of more than a dozen states that still have sodomy bans on the books, despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 ruling in Lawrence v. Texas declaring them unconstitutional.

Some states’ sodomy laws specifically target gay relations, but Michigan’s is among those that make oral and anal sex crimes illegal regardless of whether they’re same-sex or different-sex. Michigan is also one of several states with a sodomy ban that’s intertwined with a prohibition on bestiality – effectively equating the two. The law makes it a felony for anyone to commit “the abominable and detestable crime against nature with mankind or with any animal.” If the person is already a sex offender, violations are punishable by life in prison.

Since most sexual activity is done in private, both critics amd supporters of the new bill have questioned how it will be enforced.

But the smart Michigan legislators have apparently taken care of that by tucking a provision in the bill that would require home, apartment and hotel owners to install hidden cameras in all bedrooms. The cameras will feed into a 24-hour central monitoring station that would be established and funded from taxpayer money.

As incentive, the bill authorizes that 100% of expenses by the state’s citizens to install the cameras will be tax-deductible.

However, failure to install the cameras within 6 months after the bill becomes law will result in fine or imprisonment, or both.

In the meantime, the state of Michigan is now accepting applications from individuals who will be employed as sodomy monitors. All are encouraged to apply, except registered sex offenders.

Detroit, Michigan (The Adobo Chronicles) – By virtue of a recent circuit court decision to reverse an earlier ruling by a federal judge striking down the state’s ban on gay marriage, Michigan remains among the 15 states in the U.S. that continue to deny the granting of marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

But Michigan is a step closer to being the first U.S. state to issue licenses to discriminate.

The Michigan Republican-led House has approved a bill — the Religious Freedom Restoration Act — that would let individuals or businesses seek exemptions to government regulations they feel substantially burden their sincerely-held religious beliefs.

This means that gay men and women, Atheists, pro-choice individuals and others may be denied services on the basis of religious beliefs held by individuals and businesses.

In anticipation of the bill’s approval by the Republican-led state senate and subsequent signature by Republican Governor Rick Snyder, the Michigan State Attorney General’s Office has announced that it has started to print official licenses to discriminate. It will start issuing the licenses on January 2, 2015.

The licenses can be obtained upon payment of a $50 fee. The licenses are valid for a period of 3 months, subject to renewal.

So if you’re planning to discriminate all year-round, be prepared to cough up $200 per year.