Michael Porcello

Michael Porcello is Legislative Counsel at Family Equality Council, a national organization working to secure full legal and social equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) parents and their children. Michael’s work focuses on federal legislation and ensuring equal access to federal benefits and protections for LGBTQ-headed families.

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Politics & Policy

May 14, 2015

State legislators in Michigan have introduced a set of bills that put at risk some of the state’s most vulnerable residents: Michigan’s more than 3,300 youth living in care. These three bills, HB 4188, 4189, and 4190, are Indiana-style RFRAs, and would permit adoption and foster care service providers to refuse to place youth in care with qualified and loving parents because of the provider’s religious or moral beliefs. If this legislation is signed into law, Michigan law will permit the biases of individual providers and agencies to outweigh what should matter most: protecting the best...

MomsRising Together

Family Economic Security Paid Family Leave

February 25, 2015

On Monday morning, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued a new rule allowing employees to take unpaid Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) leave to care for their same-sex spouse, regardless of where the couple lives. Previously, employees were only eligible to take FMLA leave to care for a same-sex spouse if they lived in a state that recognized their marriage – meaning couples living in the states that do not recognize same-sex marriages could not access this critical benefit. Today, same-sex couples living in every state are permitted to take FMLA leave to care for one...

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Michigan Adoption-Specific RFRA Bills Would Protect the Personal Biases of Providers at the Expense of Foster Youth

Victory! New Labor Rule Allows Employees Across the U.S. To Take FMLA Leave To Care for a Same-Sex Spouse