I am continuing to create short videos focusing on the injustice experienced by thousands of adoptees born in Michigan who are denied equal treatment by law to access their vital records only because of their status at birth.
For 2023, I will continue to focus on Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. Ultimately she will drive any agenda if there is true legislative reform. Her team can and should be coordinating legislative proposals based on measures now recently passed in other legislatures in the past two years.
However, Gov. Whitmer really will not care unless there is a cost. I outline that calculus in my video here.
For adoptees born in Michigan who are still denied legal access to their vital records, I would encourage you to learn how other states got it right, like New York, and propose that Michigan’s legislature adopt similar reform, without delay.
Focus on the law and its denied rights to thousands.
Tell your story, but focus on injustice and equity, and hold lawmakers to account who claim to champion both.
Remember, one cannot champion the status quo and claim to be an advocate for equity and equality at the same time. By logic alone, that is impossible.
As I have noted before, adoption is a uniquely adored American institution by both parties, Democrat and Republican.
Therefore, in getting a leader like Gov. Whitmer to take action, the logical path is to create a real political cost for inaction and for failure to fix a massive wrong. This matters because she is making moves nationally for her next political chapter. Politics is an often bruising gladiatorial arena and a choreographed stage at the same time. Those on that stage carefully measure the costs.
As long as Gov. Whitmer sees no cost to her continued inaction, we will not see any progress on reform.
You can read a longer essay I wrote about this approach at the start of 2023.
Thanks for your work to advocate for reform. It’s decades overdue.