Tag Archives: Michigan

Michigan Professor Admits She Made Up Gaybashing Story

A gay woman and professor at Central Michigan University has admitted that she made up a much-publicized story about being punched in the eye by a homophobic man.

According to sources at Michigan‘s Morning Sun News, in August, professor Mari Poindexter told the paper that, at a Toby Keith concert, a man had called her a “cross-dressing fag,” then punched her in the eye and spat on her in the parking lot of a bar later that night.

Pictures that she posted of herself with a black eye went viral on social media, with Poindexter receiving an outpouring of support from friends and from her university.

She also filed a police report.

But Poindexter wavered when police asked her to watch surveillance video from the parking lot with them. That same night, her friend called local 911 to say that Poindexter seemed she was going to harm herself.

On the 911 call, Poindexter told her friend she had made up the attack at the bar. She also admitted she’d punched herself in the eye.

After that, according to court records, she retained a lawyer and entered psychiatric treatment.

She was then charged with lying to a cop, and filing a false police report. However, the cop-lying charge was dropped in exchange for a guilty plea on the false report charge.

She was fined $225 and given six months probation.

Her lawyer painted her as a passionate LGBTQ advocate who’d gone too far.

On the night in question, she was accosted, by another patron at a local concert. The assault included many homophobic remarks, very mean spirited.”

But her lawyer admitted that she’d “made the mistake” in fabricating the story of the attack in the bar later that night.

Michigan to Pay $2M in Legal Fees After Loosing Battle Against Same-Sex Marriage

Lawyers for a Hazel Park couple who helped legalise same-sex marriage across the nation asked a federal judge to force the state to pay more than $1.9 million in legal fees.

Hazel Park couple 02

Hazel Park couple 01

The request puts a price-tag on the state of Michigan’s failed opposition to a landmark case that lasted more than three years. It comes almost exactly one month after the U.S. Supreme Court legalised same-sex marriage in the United States.

Court records describe a shoestring battle and hardship endured by lawyers whose clients couldn’t afford the fight. One lawyer sold her house to keep alive a case that ended in a landmark ruling.

Lawyers Carole Stanyar and Dana Nessel wrote in a federal court.

This case was both rare and difficult because plaintiffs’ counsel were defending members of an historically unpopular minority. Although public opinion has shifted considerably in the years that this case has been pending, when filed, a decided majority of the Michigan population were opposed to marriage by same-sex couples.”

Lawyers for Hazel Park couple April DeBoer and Jayne Rowse, whose relationship was at the heart of the Supreme Court case, said if anyone is suffering from sticker shock over the legal fees, blame the state for waging a protracted fight.

There was no immediate comment from spokeswomen for Gov. Rick Snyder and Attorney Bill Schuette, the public official who served as the face of opposition in the case.

The request includes fees for six lawyers even though the couple’s legal team included eight attorneys, seven law clerks, multiple paralegals and experts from Boston, New York, San Francisco and Lansing. The six lawyers each billed $350 an hour.

The questions presented were unquestionably novel, complex and difficult. This was the first trial in history challenging the Michigan Marriage Amendment, and Michigan’s statutory marriage and second-parent adoption bans.”

Rowse and DeBoer were unable to pay their lawyers, Stanyar wrote in a filing Saturday. Stanyar said she sold her house to help bankroll the historic legal fight.

Hazel Park couple 02

She said the fee request will be among the largest, if not the largest, legal bill tied to the marriage equality fight nationwide.

Raising the funds for this litigation was exceedingly difficult. This was a difficult, hotly contested ,emotion-charged lawsuit from start to finish…”

Last month, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage, a ruling that President Barack Obama called a “victory for America.”

Michigan Doctor Refuses To Care For Baby Because The Parents Were Lesbians

Jami and Krista Contreras of Oak Park met with Dr. Vesna Roi before the birth of their daughter, Bay Windsor, in October. But it wasn’t until the girl was 6 days old and they were waiting at the practice for her first checkup that they learned of the pediatrician’s decision.

Another doctor at the same practice told them their Roi “prayed on it” before deciding not to see the child. Two women say they believe a pediatrician refused to care for their infant daughter because they are lesbian.

“I was completely dumbfounded. We just looked at each other and said, ‘Did we hear that correctly?’”

Krista Contreras

Jami continued.

“As far as we know Bay doesn’t  have a sexual orientation yet so I’m not really sure what that matters. We’re not your patient – she’s your patient. And the fact is that your job is to keep babies healthy and you can’t keep a baby healthy that has gay parents?”

Jami Contreras

 

The incident happened last October, but the Contreras decided to go public with their story to raise awareness about discrimination against same-sex parents.

The couple said the doctor later wrote them a handwritten letter saying that “after much prayer,” she felt she could not “develop the personal patient-doctor relationships” that she usually builds with patients. However, she did not specify that sexual orientation was the reason for her refusal to see their child.

The doctor told the newspaper she couldn’t comment on the case, citing federal privacy law. She defended her commitment to pediatric medicine and helping children, saying her life is taking care of babies and she loves her patients and their families.

While the doctor’s actions could be considered inappropriate, there is no Michigan or federal law prohibiting such a decision, Wayne State University Constitutional Law Professor Robert Sedler said.

Many states have legislated against such discrimination, and Michigan has explored the idea. Republican Gov. Rick Snyder has called for legislative discussion to amend the state’s civil rights law to prohibit discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in employment, housing and places open to the public. But bills backed by the business community died last session and are unlikely to gain traction in the GOP-led Legislature.

Gay rights advocates are studying a potential 2016 ballot initiative.

No lawsuit is planned since the women, who married in Vermont in 2012, concluded the doctor did nothing illegal. They said they went public with their story to raise awareness about discrimination faced by the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

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