Speaker addresses LGBTQ rights during Open and Affirming church service

“Embrace differences. Love your neighbors. Do unto others as you would have (them do) unto you. The world would be a much better place if we all lived by those simple rules. And it starts with us, right here in this community.”

On Sunday morning, those words echoed through the sanctuary of Immanuel Congregational United Church of Christ in Oxford Village.

But, it wasn’t a pastor who uttered them as part of some sermon. It was the voice of Jody LaMacchia, an Oxford resident since 2001 and an out-and-proud lesbian.

“To any members of the LGBTQ community who are here today, don’t let extremists dull your shine,” she said. “Be proud of who you are. Be yourself. There are so many people in this great big world that will cherish your uniqueness and individuality. Find your tribe. They’re out there.”

LaMacchia served as the guest speaker at Immanuel’s Open and Affirming Sunday service.

Immanuel, a 142-year-old church at the corner of Hovey and Dennison streets, is one of more than 1,500 Open and Affirming churches and ministries in the United Church of Christ that welcomes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer or questioning (LGBTQ) members.

LaMacchia shared a little bit about herself and her wife Samantha.

Both attended Lansing Catholic Central High School, but “didn’t really know each other” well back then. They didn’t connect until decades later when their paths crossed. They were married in May 2017 and together, they raise LaMacchia’s 15-year-old son Cameron.

LaMacchia noted “the people of Oxford have (been) overwhelmingly caring and kind” to them and “embraced” them as a couple.

LaMacchia’s experience coming out as a lesbian was “much different” than her wife’s.

News of LaMacchia’s sexual orientation was received by a mother who was “loving and accepting right off the bat” and friends who “rolled with it and were endlessly supportive.”

Samantha was not so fortunate. LaMacchia said her wife likes to say she “flew right out of the closet” after graduating from high school, but her declaration was “greeted with abandonment and violence.”

“Her family disowned her for two years,” LaMacchia said. “She was the victim of two hate crimes. She became involved in an abusive relationship.”

Eventually, Samantha’s family realized “they weren’t going to be able to punish her out of being gay and chose to accept and love her instead,” LaMacchia said.

LaMacchia noted that even though there’s been “a huge cultural shift towards acceptance” of the LGBTQ community and it’s now been three years since the U.S. Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage in all 50 states, the fight for equal rights isn’t over.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” she said.

Currently, there’s a bill in the state Legislature that seeks to amend and expand Michigan’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which was signed into law by Republican Gov. William Milliken in January 1977.

It’s interesting to note that former state Rep. Mel Larsen (R), one of the two lawmakers who championed this act, lived in Oxford and represented this area in Lansing at the time.

The 42-year-old law prohibits discrimination on the basis of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status or marital status in the areas of employment, housing, education and access to public accommodations.

But, it does not protect those who identify as LGBTQ.

“So today, in 2019, a member of the LGBTQ community can be legally fired and kicked out of their homes for simply existing,” LaMacchia said.

LaMacchia said some lawmakers are claiming there’s “public pressure” against expanding the act to include the LGBTQ community and that it “somehow infringes on people’s rights to discriminate” against others based on their own religious beliefs.

But, she said the numbers don’t bear that out. She cited the results of a statewide poll that involved 600 people likely to vote in the 2020 general election. It was conducted between May 30 and June 2 by the Lansing-based Glengariff Group, Inc. and the results were released exclusively to Crain’s Detroit Business last month. Of those who participated, 43 percent were Democrats, 36 percent Republicans and 19 percent identified as independent voters.

Of those surveyed by telephone:

• 83 percent said employers should not be able to fire LGBTQ employees because it conflicts with their own religious beliefs.

• 79.2 percent said a landlord should not be allowed to refuse to rent an apartment because an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity conflicts with their own religious beliefs.

• 77.5 percent said they support a law that makes it illegal to fire people or deny housing to them because they’re members of the LGBTQ community.

• 73.5 percent said they support expanding Elliot-Larsen protections to include LGBTQ individuals.

• 65 percent of self-identified Baptists and 62 percent of Catholics said they support making it illegal to fire an employee or deny housing to a person based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

• 66 percent of those who identify as “strong Republicans” said they support outlawing discrimination in employment and housing based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“These numbers betray the lie that the public is not onboard with protections for the LGBTQ community,” LaMacchia told the congregation.

“No matter what their religion or political party affiliation, (the) people of Michigan overwhelmingly support expanding the Elliot-Larsen Act.”

Overall, LaMacchia said “the majority of folks are tolerant and accepting,” but it’s the “sometimes violent backlash by an extreme, but loud few” that should concern people.

“The rise of angry, divisive, hateful rhetoric dehumanizes and divides us,” she said. “Hate crimes against the LGBTQ community are on the rise. This cannot be tolerated, not against the LGBTQ community, not against anybody.”