Happy 2023 Pride Month Social Workers!

Happy Pride Social Workers!

This June we celebrate our LGTBQIA2S+ social work community! Michigan LGTBQIA2S+ social workers have long been the leaders in expanding civils rights and expanding access to services across our state and nationally. Today, our LGTBQIA2S+ social workers continue to develop new resources, provide critical mental health care, advocate for clients, and rally for more inclusive policies at the organizational, local, state, and federal levels. Throughout the month we will highlight some of our amazing Michigan LGTBQIA2S+ social workers.

NASW-Michigan is excited to be participating in two pride events this month: Lansing Pride on June 17th and Great Lakes Bay Pride Festival in Bay City on June 24th. Interested in staffing the NASW-Michigan table with us at one of these pride events? Please complete this form if you are interested in volunteering at the Lansing event. If you are interested in volunteering at the Bay City event, please email Region 5 Representative, Chris Fike, at dcfike@midmichpsych.com. 

Find other Pride events across the state: Your 2023 Michigan LGBTQ+ Pride Calendar

We are also happy to share that our Michigan social work community raised nearly $1,500 for OutFront Kalamazoo at The Future of Social Work Conference held in Kalamazoo in May through a fundraiser and a drag bingo show! We encourage social workers to find a local LGBTQ+ organization to donate to or volunteer with this month - please see some options below.

Michigan LGTBQIA2S+ organizations to know, volunteer with, and donate to:

• Transgender Michigan

• Ruth Ellis Center

• Affirmations

• SAGE Metro Detroit

• Salus Center

• Equality Michigan

Recently we have seen a slew of unconscionable attacks on the LGTBQIA2S+ community through dangerous policies across the United States. Most recently, misinformation has fueled attacks specifically on trans youth in state legislatures across the country. We want to highlight this interactive map by the Human Rights Campaign for comprehensive care programs for gender-expansive children and adolescents. You can find additional LGBTQ+ youth resources from the Human Rights Campaign here.

NASW-Michigan is committed to organizing and advocating against these harmful attacks on our communities and working with our legislative and coalition partners to stop any efforts that may come to Michigan. If you would like to participate in these advocacy efforts, please consider joining the NASW-Michigan Michigan LGBTQ+ Social Work Committee.

This committee aims to be a safe, brave and supportive space for LGBTQ+ identifying social workers and their allies. This will be a space for community advocacy, discussion of LGBTQ+ social justice initiatives, and education opportunities for different subsets of the queer and trans and gender diverse/nonconforming community. The first committee meeting will take place on June 8, 2023 from 12-1pm. All social workers who complete the form will be emailed the Zoom meeting information.

We need social workers to assist us in these additional macro level efforts:

NASW encourages all social workers to develop and participate in coalitions with other human rights, social action, and professional associations to lobby for the rights of LGBT people and to defeat efforts that aim at limiting LGBT people’s rights.

NASW advocates for increased funding for programs designed to eliminate hate crimes and anti-LGBT violence.

NASW advocates for increased funding for programs designed to provide education, health, and mental health services for LGBT people.

NASW supports the legal recognition of LGBT families through comprehensive parental recognition laws at the state level to fully protect children raised in these families.

NASW calls on the United States and our global social work allies to fund and implement changes necessary to meet the core obligations of states with respect to protecting the human rights of LGBT people.

LGBTQ+ Rights Expanded In Michigan

People within Michigan’s LGBTQ+ community will now be better protected against discrimination. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an expansion of the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act into law Thursday. The expansion prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender or identity or expression in employment, public accommodations and public services, educational facilities, housing and real estate.The expansion passed the Michigan Senate and House of Representatives earlier this year in March.

ACTION ALERT: Help Ban Conversion Therapy In Michigan

Legislation to ban conversion therapy that was introduced last month by Rep. Felicia Brabec along with Rep. Jason Hoskins and Sen. Mallory McMarrow will have a hearing next week.

House bills 4616-4617 and Senate bills 348-349 ban state-licensed providers from performing conversion “therapy” on minors under penalty of losing their licenses was introduced on Thursday. “Conversion therapy” is discredited and frequently leads to depression, decreased self-esteem, substance abuse, and suicide. According to data from The Trevor Project, 15% of Michigan’s youth report being threatened with or subjected to conversion therapy. 

NASW-Michigan has supported a ban on conversion therapy for years, including when it was last introduced in the legislature in 2021.

Many professional health organizations have publicly supported anti-conversion therapy regulations. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) provides a great deal of background information, as well as excerpts of statements supporting anti-conversion therapy regulations from organizations including:

American Academy of Child Adolescent Psychiatry

American Academy of Pediatrics

American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy

American College of Physicians

American Counseling Association

American Medical Association

American Psychoanalytic Association

American Psychological Association

American School Counselor Association

American School Health Association

National Association of Social Workers

World Psychiatric Association

NASW-Michigan asks the Legislature to protect our youth and their families from this harmful tactic by taking swift, bipartisan action to ensure Michigan becomes the 22nd state to ban this cruel practice.

NASW Files Amicus Brief in Support of LGBTQ Families in Michigan Supreme Court Case

The National Association of Social Workers, including its Michigan Chapter, submitted an amicus brief on March 10, 2023, to the Michigan Supreme Court as it hears the case Pueblo v. Hass. The case will determine custody rights for separated unmarried LGBTQ couples.

The case concerns Carrie Pueblo and Rachel Haas—partners in a committed same-sex relationship— who chose to have a child together using assisted insemination, with Ms. Haas carrying the child. In 2014, the relationship ended before same sex marriage was legalized by the U.S. Supreme Court, but they continued to share custody and parenting of the child.   

In 2017, Ms. Haas requested that Ms. Pueblo have no further contact with their child.  Ms. Pueblo filed a complaint seeking joint legal and physical custody. The trial court and the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in Ms. Haas’s favor, finding that because Ms. Haas and Ms. Pueblo were never married, and Ms. Pueblo is not a legal parent or related to the child, she has no right to assert custody. Ms. Pueblo’s case is now before the Michigan Supreme Court.  

NASW submits amicus briefs to offer the social work perspective in court cases that impact social workers and the communities they support. The amicus brief in this case urges the court to consider the best interests of the child. Making an unnecessary change to a child’s relationship with their parent can cause serious emotional harm to the child. Social science research confirms that the bonds of attachment are critical for a child’s healthy development. It does not matter whether there is a biological or legal connection between the parent and child.  NASW supports protecting the familial attachments between LGBTQ couples and their children and recognizes that these familial relationships are of the same strength, depth, and importance to the healthy development of children as the relationships of opposite-sex couples and their children.  

Other organizations filing amicus briefs were ACLU of Michigan, the Family Law Section of the State Bar of MI, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD), Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, LGBTQA Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, Affirmations LGBTQ+ Community Center, the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers, MI Chapter, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

The court has until July 31, 2023 to issue an opinion on the case.