Week Three at the Roundhouse was the most exciting so far, according to EQNM’s staff and fellows who are working hard to rep the Queer and Trans community this session.
“There was a lot of running around, talking to legislators, and pushing our bills to get heard as quickly as possible,” said EQNM program manager Nathan Saavedra. This included participating in Youth Lobby Day and Public Health Day, where EQNM’s community team was able to sign up dozens of future volunteers.
Although things got difficult at times, particularly with the committee hearing on the so-called Protection of Women’s Sports Act (HB185) and questions around federal executive orders targeting our community, we were proud to offer encouragement and support to LGBTQ New Mexicans. We teamed up with the Transgender Resource Center to write an oped in the Santa Fe New Mexican that was published in the Sunday paper; read Executive orders can’t erase our rights here.
“There’s been a lot in the news this week and a majority of it is scary,” Nathan said. “We’re holding on to the values that keep us going. We’ve been here before. We’ve made it through, and we will make it through again.”
Here is a look at what went down in Santa Fe and what you can expect next.
Advocacy work is always a mix of wins and losses, and EQNM is in it for the long-haul. That’s why we are so excited to have a team of fellows with us this session, learning the ins-and-outs of introducing and passing bills, committee hearing dynamics, lobbying, and making adjustments in real time.
This past week our fellows were running all over the place. They were impressed by the madness of the filibuster, locating reps to talk to about bills, attending coalition meetings for sex education policy—and they managed to grab some great tacos from Fusion. (Busy queer champions need to eat well!)
Youth Lobby Day on Feb 4th. Featured Organizations: BFNM, ACLU-NM, PPRM, TWU. PNNM, Strong Families NM, & EQNM!
Our fellow Yza said: “I've been learning what an all-encompassing term ‘lobbying’ is and it’s been really interesting to see what that actually means and entails. It’s a lot of talking to people and introducing yourself to build connections!” Chira recognized that “you need to pitch bills differently depending on your audience.” And Arlo was able to pass as a longtime pro with a legislator: “One of the representatives I talked to said that she couldn’t tell it was my first time talking to a legislator; so that felt nice!”
Our next generation of queer and trans advocates are doing a great job standing up for our community!
We expect another busy week at the Legislature. The Internet Privacy & Safety Act (IPSA: HB307) is scheduled for its first committee on Wednesday, Feb 12, and our rental fees bill (SB267) is scheduled for Feb 13. It’s also National Sex Education Week, so we’ll be supporting the Sex Ed bill (SB258)
“Expect plenty of advocacy requests coming your way via social media, text messages, & phone banks,” Nathan says. “We need your voice to help us win this fight!”
You can join our Rapid Response Team to get text message alerts for critical moments when your voice is most needed. Sign up here.