[2] Same-sex sexual activity is legal in Michigan under the U.S. Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, although the state legislature has not repealed its sodomy law.

[7] While a majority of Michiganders support same-sex marriage,[8] the formerly Republican-controlled Legislature had mostly ignored LGBT-related legislation, and as such progress had been slow (and had thus mostly come from the courts and local municipalities).

[13] On Saturday, March 22, 2014, four of Michigan's 83 county clerks opened their offices for special hours and issued more than 300 marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

A law in effect since December 2011 banned most public employers, though not colleges and universities, from offering health benefits to the domestic partners of their employees.

[19][20] He made that injunction permanent on November 12, 2014, when he ruled in Bassett v. Snyder that Michigan's restrictions on domestic partnership benefits were not related to a legitimate government purpose.

[31] In August 2023, a Michigan fruit and orchard market farmer who opposed same-sex marriage won a court case officially "based on legal precedent".

[33][34] As early as the 1973 committee hearing on the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, members of the LGBTQ community in Michigan sought to be included in the law.

On March 14, 2013, the Michigan Senate passed, by a 37–0 vote, an emergency harbor dredging funding bill that made private marinas ineligible for a new loan program if they discriminate based on sexual orientation.

On March 27, 2013, Governor Rick Snyder signed an emergency harbor dredging funding bill that made private marinas ineligible for a new loan program if they discriminate based on sexual orientation.

[46] On May 21, 2018, the Commission interpreted the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act as banning discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity through the category of sex.

In July 2018, Schuette said that the decision is "invalid because it conflicts with the original intent of the Legislature as expressed in the plain language of the state's civil rights law".

[49] The Commission subsequently reiterated its support for the decision, and the Department of Civil Rights announced that it would continue to investigate discrimination complaints based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

[51] On March 7, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (covering Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee) ruled that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits employment discrimination against transgender people under the category of sex.

She was promptly fired by her boss who said that "gender transition violat[es] God's commands because a person's sex is an immutable God-given gift.

[58] In March 2023, after Democrats won a trifecta in Michigan, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation to ensure the high court's ruling could not be overturned, explicitly banning discrimination on the bases of sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression.

[63] Notes: Since 2009, US-wide federal law explicitly includes sexual orientation and gender identity, under the Obama-era "Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr.

[105] In June 2023, the Michigan House of Representatives passed hate crime bills package - that explicitly includes and updates both "sexual orientation and gender identity or expression".

[108][109][110][111] In July 2024, a bill that turned into a law was passed, signed and implemented by the state legislature and Governor - to officially abolish the “gay and trans panic defence“ within Michigan.

[115] In August 2020, the Michigan City of Royal Oak also passed an ordinance that banned conversion therapy on minors - explicitly with up to 90 days jail or imprisonment and a $500 fine.

[116] In June 2021, the Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order that bans statewide taxpayers dollars or funding going towards conversion therapy on minors.

[121][122] On June 30, 2021, a 1978 law and policy within Michigan requiring sexual reassignment surgery - to change sex on an individual's birth certificate was formally declared unconstitutional by the courts.

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services Director Elizabeth Hertel asked the attorney general in February to examine the constitutionality of the 1978 law that requires a written statement from a physician confirming that "gender-confirmation surgery" has been completed.

[126] In November 2019, Michigan implemented a new government software system to change an individual's gender or sex on drivers licenses and I.D.s within the state - by both a signed statutory declaration and a fee.

[131] A 2022 Public Religion Research Institute poll found that 68% of Michigan residents supported same-sex marriage, while 30% were opposed and 2% were unsure.