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The new sign in front of the former Lewis Cass state office building in Lansing was unveiled yesterday.
In June, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order renaming the facility the “Elliott-Larsen Building.”
The designation honors former Republican State Representative Melvin Larsen and former Democratic State Representative Daisy Elliott, who sponsored Michigan’s landmark civil rights act in 1976.
Larsen attended the ceremony. Elliott died in 2015, but was represented by her granddaughter.
It is the first time in Michigan history that a state building has been named after an African-American woman.
In remarks at the event, Whitmer again called on the legislature to expand the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act to protect sexual identity. At this time, no state or federal laws exist to protect individuals from being denied housing or refused service because of their sexual identity.
