It’s been more than a month of competing priorities, behind-the-scenes politicking, and constant committee hearings at the Roundhouse. In the end, the 2024 legislative session will be remembered as a mixed bag for our community. We had some big wins, heartbreaking losses, and we quashed harmful initiatives wherever we saw them developing. Let’s recap what happened, and get energized for the work that lies ahead!
Session began with Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s State of the State address, where she outlined an ambitious public safety agenda. Public safety is, of course, a priority for us all, but the governor’s approach was often less about safety and more about establishing the appearance of punishment. Along with our partner organizations, we managed to slow things down enough that really bad ideas didn't get anywhere. The legislature did pass a seven-day waiting period to purchase firearms and banned guns in polling places, taking a couple of steps toward a safer state. Not enough was done, but it's a good start for curbing the epidemic of gun violence in New Mexico. We can now focus on real solutions that involve all the stakeholders and voices from our communities.
EQNM worked alongside the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Providers to pass HB 151, the Benjamin Higher Education Sexual Violence Prevention and Intervention Act. New Mexico universities and colleges will now have to use the affirmative consent standard rather than making up their own ideas of what is and isn't sexual violence. Students will also receive training on affirmative consent, because we can't be expected to follow the same rules if we don't all know the rules to begin with. This victory was five years in the making, and we are so proud of NMCSAP and all whose dedication and persistence codified affirmative consent on New Mexico campuses.
Although the Paid Family and Medical Leave and Dignity Without Detention bills died, we will not give up on fighting for progress on both fronts. The Paid Family and Medical Leave bill brought forth in 2024 was both pro-business and pro-worker—a rarity. It was developed by experts for the past three years to provide New Mexico families with basic protections and help businesses work to keep employees even when they face crises, illness or created families. It included us. It is shameful that a handful of self-professed champions of LGBTQ people and families turned their back at the urging of conservatives who weren't telling the truth about this bill. The Dignity Without Detention loss was a blow to LGBTQ people seeking assylum in the US. We are severely disappointed in the legislators who support LGBTQ Americans, but don't see the reality of how ICE and private prison companies are treating our international siblings when they flee from homophobic and transphobic violence in other countries. We vow to work hard to help our partners who lead this cause get this done next year.
It’s hard to get many things done in a short legislative session; in even years sessions are only 30 days while they are 60 days in odd years. A number of bills we liked simply died for lack of time. We will continue to work through our organizing programs, our upcoming statewide LGBTQ summit, and through interim committee hearings to ensure that these are brought back and passed.
We thank our EQNM community for staying informed and taking action during the legislative session. Your voices matter. It is essential that our elected officials begin to understand that LGBTQ people and our issues are truly intersectional. They need to see us as whole humans in need of physical and mental healthcare, jobs and employment security, and an effective community-based public safety strategy. For the rest of this year and in 2025 and beyond, we will advocate for legislative sessions driven by communities across the state and our lived experiences—not a top-down approach based on one person's "big ideas."
We look forward to fighting with you for a legislative agenda that is bold, big, and ambitious.