Michigan's regulator approved astate charter Monday for Superbia Credit Union that plans to becomethe first cooperative to serve LGBTQ individuals and their familiesnationally. 

The state charter was also thefirst one to be approved in more than three decades by Michigan'sDepartment of Insurance and Financial Services. Texas was the firststate to grant a charter to the First Gay & Lesbian Credit Union in Dallasin 1988, which served 840 members and managed $525,000 in assets.FGLCU was merged out of existence in the1990s. 

Myles Myers, founder of SuperbiaServices Inc. the organizational arm of the credit union, said in aprepared statement that the de-novo cooperative will improveeconomic equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queerpersons by removing the risks of intolerance and discrimination inbanking services that continue to plague the community in differentforms. However, there are numerous credit unions and banks thathave been welcoming the LGTBQ market for years.