Our communities - communities of color, LGBTQ communities, Black and Indigenous communities, all deserve a way to fight for the rights we have been granted but are often not respected. As you’ve heard us say before, EQNM is working toward liberation and justice for ALL New Mexicans, and we believe that we cannot fight for LGBTQ justice without fighting for racial justice.
EQNM supports HB4, the NM Civil Rights Act - as well as HB29 & SB80, No School Discrimination for Hair (aka the CROWN Act) as part of our fight for racial justice. Keep reading below to find out more about why we’re standing behind our partners and with our communities on these efforts.
NM Civil Rights Act
Civil Rights, as recognized by our state Constitution, have no value if they aren’t enforced. HB 4 gives everyday citizens an opportunity for their day in court if their civil rights have been violated by a government body or program, including by local law enforcement.
We cannot rely on our governments, state, national or local, to always be fair and just. We need the Civil rights Act, because citizens should be able to hold their government accountable when our civil rights are violated.
With the New Mexico Civil Rights Act we can hold public officials who commit acts of wrongdoing accountable and guarantee every community gets fair and equal treatment under the Bill of Rights provided by our state Constitution.
A huge piece of this bill will remove qualified immunity from our law enforcement agencies. Qualified immunity has allowed government agencies, individual staff, and law enforcement officers to be immune from Court - they can even avoid hearings, depositions, or being compelled to testify under oath. Every individual must be held accountable for their actions, and getting rid of qualified immunity will make our law enforcement officers and programs more just and fair.
NM Crown Act
As LGBTQ people, we have always known the impact of discrimination on individuals, on whole communities. In fact, LGBTQ people in New Mexico have been working since 1993 to be granted access to basic human rights, most importantly to be protected from discrimination against us, in our jobs, in our schools, in our housing, and in public.
We applaud and strongly support the Crown Act, an effort to clarify in statute what so many of us have always known - without clarification, those that would discriminate against us, based on our sexual orientation, race, gender identity or religion - will do so based on their perception of us, not their knowledge of us. The color of our skin, the way we style our hair, the physicality of how we carry ourselves - are all characteristics that often identify us as queer or trans people.
When we amended the Human Rights Act in New Mexico in 2003 we wrote langauge that ensured that LGBTQ people could not be discriminated against-fired from their job - because of the impression or perception of their gender identity. That is because we knew, even then, that it is the perception of people, physical visible characteristics, or assumptions made based on those characteristics, can result in discriminatory practice.
Equality New Mexico sees this clarification as a strengthening of the Human Rights Act. The thought put into this is one step closer to achieving full liberation for all New Mexicans, especially queer and trans New Mexicans who deserve to be given every opportunity to thrive, in education, in workplaces and in our communities.