Rick Snyder: Asshat or Ally?

The last time I spoke about Michigan Governor Rick Snyder was … wait a minute, let me recall, I think it was, it could have been, oh yeah … yesterday.

See, it was just yesterday that Snyder asked that the 300 same-sex marriages performed during the tiny Equality Window that opened in the state last March be declared void now that the Sixth Circuit Court has ruled that it’s okay to discriminate against The Gays in Michigan.

But, lo and behold, I found yet another tale of Rick Snyder, one that has me scratching my head and wondering if there are two Rick Snyder’s governing the state. Last week, fresh from his reelection win, Snyder, a devout Republican, encouraged his state legislature to take up adding LGBT protections to the Elliott-Larson Civil Rights Act before the end of their session.

Yup, just before working to basically annul 300 same-sex marriages, Snyder asked that The Gays be added to the states discrimination laws. And let’s toss in the fact that the very legislature he’s asked to add LGBT protections to the law is a very GOP-centric legislature, with Republicans in control of both houses.

Now, it seems Snyder has made his move now because, come January, the Michigan legislature is expected to be even more conservative with an added Tea Party element. But he might still face an uphill battle with the House Speaker, one Jase Bolger, who believes that LGBT protections should be "balanced" by religious protections; but, with Bolger on his way out the door having lost his election, maybe he’d be more gay-friendly, or, at the very least, less gay-hating?

Still, the questions arises, why Rick? Why now? Why protect The Gays one week and then strip the married gays of their marriages the next?

Money; corporations. It appears Snyder was motivated by his base in the business sector; the very people to whom he gave a tax cut paid for by raising property taxes on Michigan retirees. That group, the Michigan Competitive Workforce Coalition, includes AT&T, Google and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, who have all publicly supported amending Elliott-Larsen with LGBT protections.

So, he didn’t do it for The Gays, he did it for the people to whom he gave tax breaks paid for by people who maybe cannot afford tax breaks. So, while this might be a nice, seemingly, LGBT-friendly move, it’s really just appeasing business while smothering the public under more taxes.

And that’s no surprise coming from a Republican. And an asshat.

Looky there, I answered my own question: Rick Snyder is still an asshat.

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