Michigan Rep. Noah Arbit pushes back against claims bill creates felony to misgender
LANSING, Mich. (CBS DETROIT) - State Rep. Noah Arbit's anti-hate crime legislation passed the Michigan House in a bipartisan fashion last month. However, critics of the bill have raised concerns that if implemented, it would be a felony to misgender someone in the state.
They are claims that Arbit calls "far-right fiction," considering the law doesn't even contain the word misgender.
"We have a legal architecture that remains stuck in 1988, not fit for purpose to address the rise in hate crimes that we have continued to see," said Arbit. "So, really strengthening the law is so imperative. To see it basically be demagogued as something that's like ... about criminalizing pronoun use is just crazy."
Claims that House Bill 4474 criminalizes misgendering an individual spread widely on conservative sites like Fox News and Breitbart., noting the language in the bill says "threatens by word or act" could be interpreted to mean misgendering a person and could be punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
But Arbit tells CBS News Detroit the burden of proof is still very high.
"The reason why hate crimes are different than all other crimes to prosecute is because in every other crime, you got to prove that a crime occurred and that this person did it. With a hate crime, you actually have to prove intent to get a conviction," he said.
In other words, the burden of proof is much higher when it comes to hate crimes cases, and that remains true in Arbit's legislation. But Professor Emeritus William Wagner of Cooley Law School says his concern is that the bill is too vague.
"I get it. You know, there's not the word misgendering in the statute, but, you know, it doesn't have to be in the statute," he said.
He says to avoid challenges, the bill needs to be fixed.
"It's a fixable problem. I hope they fix it because one way or the other, it'll go up to the court," Wagner said. "Just like the Colorado statute that was struck down last week, you know, this one will probably be struck down as well."
This bill still needs to pass the Michigan Senate before it can be signed into law by the governor. Arbit says he's confident it will pass.