Our History

Equality New Mexico, formerly the Coalition for Equality in New Mexico and Basic Rights New Mexico, was founded in 1993 in the shadow of the second defeat of legislation attempting to amend the New Mexico Human Rights Act to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. The intent was to create a shared statewide vision for gay and lesbian civil/human rights and to provide a unified political voice for New Mexico's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities.

In the spring of 2003, people like you helped EQNM and our allies win passage of a Hate Crimes Act and an amendment to the Human Rights Act (HRA) making New Mexico one of the first states in the U.S. to include both gender identity and sexual orientation in both of these laws.

In July 2003, Basic Rights New Mexico formed to counter efforts by right-wing activists to overturn this recently passed legislation by gathering signatures for a November 2004 ballot referendum. Then in 2004, thousands of fair-minded New Mexicans from all corners of the state helped EQNM to successfully hold off a statewide, anti-gay ballot initiative to repeal the newly amended HRA