A proposed bill in Michigan would negate local LGBT non-discrimination ordinances in several Michigan cities; October 20th celebration of Spirit Day against bullying; and more in this edition of Bent News.

Based on @bentalaska tweets and Facebook shares from October 21, with supplementation.  We apologize for neglecting the news lately: Bent’s editor is overwhelmed with a whole lotta stuff at the moment, & is working to catch up.

Michigan bill aims to negate local nondiscrimination ordinances

• Michigan bill would negate cities’ LGBT non-discrimination laws, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo. http://t.co/ezOGARLr #

A proposed bill in Michigan would negate cities’ LGBT non-discrimination laws, including Lansing, Grand Rapids, & Kalamazoo, whose One Kalamazoo campaign has been an inspiration for the One Anchorage campaign. Anti-LGBT legislators in Tennessee succeeded with a similar ploy in May, negating Nashville’s local antidiscrimination law.

Bent Alaska has been told that provisions in Alaska law would prevent social conservatives in the Alaska Legislature from pulling the same thing on Anchorage should the One Anchorage campaign succeeds. One Anchorage is currently collecting signatures to place a ballot measure on the Anchorage municipal ballot in April 2012. If successful, it would add sexual orientation and transgender identity to Anchorage’s equal rights code.

Spirit Day against bullying

• Bent Alaska & friends weren’t the only ones to go purple against bullying for #SpiritDay – so did lots of celebs. http://t.co/rs0w2lFS #
• … but #SpiritDay ended w/ Senate committee FAIL on addressing bullying in education bill. What did Lisa do? http://t.co/iIMLyO53 #

October 20 was Spirit Day, which asks people to wear the color purple to show support for LGBT young people who are victims of bullying. Purple is the color representing spirit on the Rainbow flag. Spirit Day was first celebrated in 2010, created by Canadian teenager Brittany McMillan as a response to the young people who had taken their own lives, and is now publicized by GLAAD.  Bent Alaska’s Facebook wall turned positively purple with spirit on Thursday, with friends tagging Bent on their purple pictures. Even the White House took part.

Unforunately, the Senate Health, Education, Education & Pensions (HELP) Committee failed to even consider the antibullying Student Non-Discrimination Act or Safe Schools Improvement Act on Thursday as it passed the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (ESEA) bill by a vote of 15 to 7.  Senator Lisa Murkowski sits on the HELP Committee, and Bent had been urging Alaskans to call her to urge her to support the antibullying measures.

Other news tweets

• LA Times: # of gay/lesbian couples who adopt tripled over last decade despite some states discrimination. http://t.co/oykPClgI #
• The @glsen Respect Awards are tonight! Follow #RespectLA for livetweets or visit http://t.co/og60raET for a list of honorees.#