This bill has led to the American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, filing a lawsuit against the state. The ACLU claims the law unfairly discriminates against the lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender, or LGBT, community.

The bill will affect public employees across the state, including those employed by the city of East Lansing. It currently is unclear whether the law will impact public university employees in the future. Snyder said it is unconstitutional to include public universities in the law, which is why public university employees currently are not affected, but many House Republicans believe otherwise.

Rep. Dave Agema, R-Grandville, said he believes a court case likely will determine the final interpretation.

If the bill does turn out to apply to public university employees, MSU will be greatly affected.

The university has long offered benefits to domestic partners. Faculty members who are a part of the LBGT community might not be able to extend those benefits to their partners.

Faculty rely on those benefits and would be willing to seek employment elsewhere if those benefits are taken away from their loved ones. As a result, the university could lose employees and potentially valued staff.

The bill could even discourage potential employees in the LBGT community from coming to MSU and other public universities.

Mark Doebler, chair of the Alliance of Queer and Ally Students, told The State News “This [bill], with a few other pieces of legislation that have been going through, have created a very hostile environment for the retention of LGBT individuals in our state” (Benefits ban for same-sex couples might stand at MSU,” SN 1/9).

By passing a bill that is specifically targeted toward restricting the rights of people based on their sexual orientation, Michigan’s government is demonstrating intolerance toward the LGBT community.

Although couples previously could share benefits that are offered based on part-time or full-time work status, the government is now making sexual preference a factor where same-sex couples are concerned.

ACLU attorney Jay Kaplan was quoted in a recent article from The State News (ACLU targets Michigan in discrimination lawsuit,” SN 1/5) voicing his contempt with the legislation.

“They’ve kind of sent a message: ‘Okay, you can basically cover just about anybody, but you can’t cover these same-sex couples,’” he said. “It violates their equal protection rights under the federal constitution.”

We don’t how the state Legislature could view offering same-sex couples the same benefits as straight couples a “loophole.” If the government is concerned about saving money, they should explore other avenues. Retracting the rights of people based on their sexual orientation is unfair and discriminatory.