Lansing, MICHIGAN — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) — the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization — condemned the Michigan legislature for passing an anti-LGBTQ+ resolution against the Michigan Dept. of Education’s training videos. The resolution called for school staff to forcibly out LGBTQ+ students to their parents, potentially putting LGBTQ+ students in danger.

Human Rights Campaign Michigan State Director Amritha Venkataraman released the following statement:

“This resolution is clearly one more attempt to use children as pawns in a political fight. The rhetoric from legislators is misleading, discriminatory, intentionally divisive, and ignores the reality for these kids. LGBTQ+ students are already facing the weight of isolation and discrimination - 42% of LGBTQ+ youth seriously considered attempting suicide in the past year. 94% of LGBTQ+ youth have also reported that recent political fights negatively impact their mental health. As State Senator Jeremy Moss rightly pointed out, extremist anti-LGBTQ+ politicians have become obsessed with LGBTQ+ youth and with using them as political pawns. Enough is enough - let these kids be kids. Instead of addressing real problems in Michigan, extremist legislators are putting lives at risk.”

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.