Sexual misconduct, harassment, and assault in all of their forms are about power - and they always have been. And LGBTQ Americans experience harassment in the workplace, and outside of it at very high rates.
People in power have always done whatever it takes to grasp on to that power and often become so enamored with it that they can’t help trying to increase it. This always comes at the expense of people who at the moment, or historically, lack access to that power.
When Senator Ivey-Soto referenced the Sexual Orientation of Marianna Anaya by saying: “I mean, she’s a lesbian,” he said “There’s nothing sexual about the relationship between Mariana and I.” these experiences and the oppression that comes with them were brought right back into the forefront of our minds. Marianna’s attorney was 100% right (though his language could be updated): “I think that the polite and diplomatic comment that I can offer is that sexual abuse and sexual harassment occur without regard to sexual preference or consent, as a matter of definition,” Monagle said.
The history of Queer and Trans people is wrought with experiencing a lack of control over our bodies, whether through directly focused laws that prohibited our sexuality or gender expression for decades - or the contemporary versions - discriminatory laws aimed at preventing Trans youth from being who they truly are. We can, and must demand better, especially from the leaders who are charged with making the laws that impact our daily lives.
LGBTQ people deserve better than to continue to experience this, and we deserve better than to have these excuses used in the face of very serious allegations.
Equality New Mexico, on behalf of LGBTQ New Mexicans has been fighting for liberation for 29 years, and this moment can be no different. LGBTQ New Mexicans deserve access to justice when we are wronged, Marianna Anaya is due this, at the very least. We call on the Senate Leadership: President ProTem Mimi Stewart, and Majority Floor Leader Peter Wirth, who have been endorsed by EQNM in previous elections, to push this complaint into a full investigation.