Opposition Mounting Michigan Bill That Could Deny Gays Health Care
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
(Lansing, Michigan)  Some Michigan legislators are calling for amendments to a bill passed in the state House this week that could allow doctors and nurses who object to homosexuality to deny gays treatment or prescription drugs.

As reported first by 365Gay.com, the Conscientious Objector Policy Act would allow health care providers to assert their objection within 24 hours of when they receive notice of a patient or procedure with which they don't agree. However, it would prohibit emergency treatment to be refused.

The bill was aimed at allowing doctors opposed to abortion or stem cell research to refuse the procedures, but opponents of the legislation say it is so loosely worded it could be used to refuse treatment to gays.   

During debate in the legislature Rep. Chris Kolb (D-Ann Arbor) the first openly gay legislator in Michigan, pointed out that while the legislation prohibits racial discrimination by health care providers, it doesn't ban discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation.


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Musgrave's home state ducks vote on gay marriage
Lawmakers in U.S. representative Marilyn Musgrave's home state of Colorado effectively killed a resolution Friday supporting her proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriages.
The measure has been awaiting a vote since it was introduced in February. Lawmakers had said it probably didn't have enough support to pass, but some wanted to begin the debate on what has become a national issue.

However, state representative Brad Young, who lives in Musgrave's district, suggested delaying action on the bill until May 6, the day after the legislative session ends, a maneuver sometimes used to avoid a vote on controversial topics. Young said he was worried the resolution wouldn't pass the 65-member house, a chamber where Musgrave, a Colorado Republican, once served. "I'm concerned if that scoreboard doesn't show 33 votes," he said, referring to the electronic board that displays members' votes.