Michigan Pronouns Law Declared an 'Abomination' by Former Judge

Michigan's recent bill making it a felony for people to harass or intimidate someone by misgendering them and using the wrong pronouns has sparked controversy in the state, with former judge and television personality Joe Brown calling the measure an "abomination."

The new measure, House Bill 4474, is part of a package of legislation that would replace Michigan's existing Ethnic Intimidation Act and would make it a hate crime to cause someone to "feel terrorized, frightened, or threatened" with words.

It expands the existing law to cover sex, sexual orientation, age, gender identity or expression, and physical or mental disability. Religion, ethnicity and race were already included in the previous legislation and will still be covered under the new law.

Michigan has recently been pushing reforms and new measures that would expand the protection of LGBTQ+ rights in the state, going against a nationwide trend that has seen other states moving to limit rights for transgender youth.

Last week, Michigan banned conversion therapy, the controversial practice trying to "cure" LGBTQ+ people of their sexual orientation and gender identity, for minors in the state.

HB 4474 was passed by the Democrat-controlled Michigan House of Representatives in a 59 to 50 vote on June 20, and it now moves to the state Senate for consideration. If passed, it would need to be signed into law by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat. The Michigan Senate has a 20 to 18 Democratic majority.

Under the bill—which makes it a hate crime for a person to threaten another by deliberately using the wrong pronouns with an intimidating purpose—offenders would be guilty "of a felony punishable by imprisonment for not more than 5 years, or by a fine of not more than $10,000."

Brown, an independent who came under fire last year for making crude (and what many called misogynistic) comments about women leaders, wrote on Twitter that the new Michigan bill was "obscenely contrary" to the First Amendment.

"This type of abomination must be stopped," he tweeted. "This is so obscenely contrary to American 1st A[mendment] Law that the only fit 'Adjectives' to describe it are profane Michigan House passes bill where using wrong pronouns ≈ a felony, fineable up to $10,000."

"Evidently Michigan wants to keep sending cases to the Supreme Court that will trigger the left," commented one Twitter user. "1st Amendment applies. Bill will be deemed unconstitutional," another person tweeted.

Other critics of the bill have claimed that the new measure violates people's rights under the First Amendment.

"The state of Michigan is now explicitly allowing the gender delusion issue to be used as a 'protected class,'" Michigan state Representative Angela Rigas, a Republican, told the Daily Wire. "This opens up numerous issues when it comes to the courts and the continued weaponization of the system against conservatives."

"We saw similar concerns when they wanted to pass blocks on 'conversion' therapy. It seems Dems want to be in the business of telling people how to think," she said.

But Democratic state Representative Noah Arbit, who helped lead the legislative package containing the controversial measure, said that the new law will help bring Michigan from a "national laggard to a national leader" in addressing hate crimes.

"No Michigander should ever feel unsafe or threatened because of who they are or the community they belong to," Arbit, an openly gay man, said on the House floor on June 20.

Newsweek reached out to Arbit, Rigas, and the Human Rights Campaign via email for comment.