To make up for state inaction, many municipalities and cities across the state have passed ordinances to protect every citizen in their communities.

I had the opportunity to speak in favor of the ordinance passed in Sterling Heights, and I took an active role in pushing for an ordinance for Macomb County, where I grew up.

I went to the full board meeting of the Sterling Heights City Council without plans to comment on the ordinance. I simply wanted to be there as a supporter. However, I quickly realized that the hatred I was hearing would continue, and it was too much for me to remain silent. One of the most hurtful and upsetting comments came from a woman who was sitting next to me in the audience. She walked up to the podium and as she began to speak, I quickly realized she was not in favor of the ordinance. Then I heard this sentence: “I tell everyone, just come to our church. Come as you are, and we’ll clean you up.”

I sat there trying to process what I just heard, as she was saying that my identity as a gay man somehow made me dirty. I wish I could say this was the first time I heard of this. But people I knew since middle school have said things to me that are similar to that, if not worse. So I went up in front of the crowd of individuals deeply opposed to the ordinance and tried to explain why my community and I deserve to have the protections afforded to everyone else.

It is almost 2015, and we are still fighting for rights that everyone else has. Without even addressing the issue of marriage equality, we still do not have protections against discrimination in employment and housing in many states.

In 2009, the U.S. Congress passed the Hate Crimes Prevention Act that expanded coverage to pursue hate crimes motivated by gender, gender identity and sexual orientation. The bill is named in part for Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old who was tied to a fence and assaulted outside of Laramie, Wyo. in 1998. Shepard died days later in a hospital. Eleven years after his death, the hate crimes act became law. How many more deaths and acts of injustice do we have to endure as a community and a nation before we start protecting the LGBT* community? On Sept. 10, Democrats in the Michigan House and Senate introduced bills to amend the ELCRA and finally add protections on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression.

I’d like to say this gave me hope that I would finally have protections under the statewide non-discrimination act, but it doesn’t look like the bills are going to gain any traction given the current political climate.

Polling has shown that more than 70 percent of Michigan voters support protections for LGBT* individuals in the ELCRA. This is not new. Polls have shown this for years, with support growing.

It angers me that we still have to fight for employment and housing protections and that we have political leaders in this state who are unwilling to do the right thing and lead on this issue.

I am an openly gay man, I am an MSU student, and I am furious that I am seen as less than by many at this university, in this state, and in this country.

Colin Wiebrecht is a guest columnist and a junior in the James Madison and Lyman Briggs colleges. Reach him at wiebrech@msu.edu.