Elections show you who your friends are.  They often tell us who our opposition is, as well.   But occasionally, in a robust democracy, allied organizations and partners in a community with shared values - support different candidates for different reasons.   Our position at EQNM has been to support the candidates we think will best protect our LGBTQ community while keeping in mind that the fight for LGBTQ liberation is a fight for autonomy, control over our own bodies, our own lives, and our own destinies, free from the restrictions or oppressions of others.

The fight for LGBTQ Liberation is about protecting Queer and Trans people first and foremost.  Then, we move to a world where we view all policies as intersectional, are aware of the layers of impact they all have, and work together in solidarity with partner organizations and leaders to move beyond protection to proactive anti-oppression.

EQNM did not initially endorse in the Albuquerque School Board elections. There were a number of reasons for this, namely the capacity of a small staff to run a robust and thorough endorsement process in multiple areas across the state.   We turned to our partner organizations who were endorsing in Albuquerque and shared the Voter Guide from our friends at ProgressNow NM to help Albuquerque folks make informed decisions - while turning our attention to other areas of the state.

But some folks are mischaracterizing the election in District 1 of Albuquerque - and spreading inaccurate information about one of the candidates.

Janelle Astorga completed a joint questionnaire for EQNM and many other organizations. And though EQNM didn’t endorse this race - we were beyond excited to see her goals to champion the safety, inclusion, and affirmation of LGBTQ students in APS.   We especially trust our partner organizations who did a deeper dive with Janelle and trust her to be the voice for our communities at the School board level.

We are not particularly fond of the Albuquerque Journal; the editorial board is notoriously opposed to the values we hold close to and work from as we blaze our trail to liberation.   The Journal is notoriously anti-abortion access, anti-bodily autonomy, aligned with profit and business rather than community, anti-union and anti-economic justice.  But to equate the Journal’s vastly more conservative stance on these issues and their endorsement of Janelle Astorga - with her being anti-LGBTQ is inaccurate, unfair, and dangerous.

What we know at EQNM is there is a Real Fight at the School Board level in all 89 school districts, including here in Albuquerque.   But when there are two viciously anti-LGBTQ candidates being supported by - and frankly helping to lead - the ‘Moms for Liberty’ movement to harm Queer and Trans youth, we should be really honest and clear about who is on our side and who isn’t.   Most of our partner organizations with whom we work closely have endorsed Janelle Astorga, and some have endorsed Robert Trujillo - but neither of these candidates are anti-LGBTQ. We shouldn’t hint, or vaguely suggest that either one is.  

The Queer and Trans Communities in our state have real opposition, real enemies; and we have real champions, and there are folks who will be friendly solid votes but neither champions nor enemies.   Let’s be clear: we want a Board full of Champions. We’ll accept a handful of friendly, solid supporters, but we HAVE to focus on stopping those who are our opposition - our real enemies working to tharm us. 

School Board elections are critical

Today is exactly two weeks from Election Day in many New Mexico towns and cities.  And while Local Elections get very little attention most of the time, the eyes of the LGBTQ Community should be intently focused on this election.

Over the past few years, we have seen more anti-LGBTQ bills than ever before introduced (and often passed) in states across the country.   Thanks to activists, partner organizations, and champion legislators, we have been very successful in New Mexico, not only in holding off those bills at the State Level but in moving forward protective policies to protect Queer and Trans New Mexicans, especially youth.  

But the fight isn’t over, and in fact, it‘s more dangerous than ever for LGBTQ young people.   

MAGA-aligned groups like Moms for Liberty are bullies who want to make decisions for all parents by banning access to information and healthcare information they disagree with. It's unfair to the majority of parents for a small group of extremists to decide what students can learn about what books they can read, all while working to silence voices they disagree with. New Mexico parents deserve the freedom to raise their own children in safe, inclusive schools that ensure their students are ready to graduate and take their next steps. MAGA groups like Moms for Liberty shouldn't be allowed to make those decisions for everyone.

But if New Mexicans don’t turn out in elections across the state, these extremists will be successful in taking over school boards across the state, which will be the beginning of an entire generation of young people (and our communities) harmed by these extreme policies.

Look, we aren’t saying we don’t want parents involved in the education of their communities’ children.  We are saying that a small handful of very loud parents, led by a group of extremists that are listed as a hate group, shouldn’t be allowed to decide for the majority of parents, teachers, and community members what information young people have access to.  

So EQNM this year, once again, endorsed candidates for School Board (and City Council) in various areas of the state. And while we didn’t have the time and staff capacity to endorse everywhere, we point our followers and friends to the work of our partner organizations.  

We worked together with Organizations like OLE NM and Working Families Party to engage with candidates across the State and ensure that we were all able to work together in the interest of protecting LGBTQ young people, as well as the other values we hold close: access to reproductive healthcare, economic justice and fair pay for teachers and education staff! 

For information at a glance, you can check out the ProgressNow NM Voter Guide - which compiles information about all of the candidates across the state that they could find and lists the endorsements they have received as well.  

Share these resources with your friends and family, take this information with you to the polls, and don’t forget to cast your vote- our LGBTQ youth are counting on you! 

EQNM is hiring a Communications Associate

Equality New Mexico seeking Communications Associate: Equality New Mexico, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy and public education organization, is searching for an excited and eager entry/mid-level Communications Associate who wants to be active in the LGBTQ movement in New Mexico.

The position is part-time (20-30 hrs/wk $17/hr), with the intent of expanding to full-time in the future.   

Key Responsibilities:

• Content Creation & Social Media Management

• Draft and format key content for emails, social media, op-eds, and other communication methods.

• Bi-weekly emails and blog posts, as well as multiple social media posts per week.

• Other members of the team support these needs, as well.

• The position will be a key part of a team charged with deepening and expanding the brand and “voice” of the organization in all communications.

• EQNM is working to build a statewide movement that is engaged via email and social media on the electoral, policy, and systemic change we work toward.

• The position will work with leadership to develop a communications calendar and then create content to implement Style, Voice, and Brand guidance.

• This position requires creativity, understanding (or a desire to learn) intersecting issues, and the best ways to explain and engage our membership on them. 

• Create and execute social media strategy to engage EQNM audience 

• The creation of a strategy and calendar are the responsibility of the Communications associate, individual posts, content, and placement are distributed among the team.

• Monitor and uplift the digital presence of partner organizations on intersecting issues.

• Work with Graphic Designer and Community Organizer to create media assets that engage and empower the EQNM audience

• Be a team player

• Engage with the EQNM team (staff, Boards, and key community leaders) to continuously shape and implement projects, values, and tactics that work for our movement.

• Give and receive feedback from mentors, leaders, and staff about engagement, messaging, projects, and EQNM’s role in the broader world.

• Qualifications

• Open-minded and eager to learn with a passion for LGBTQ issues at the intersection of race, gender, and class. 

• Interest in systemic change and upending oppressive systems

• Willing to travel occasionally

Interested Applicants can apply by emailing Marshall@eqnm.org with a resume and a writing sample of 500 - 1000 words. (On any topic applicant thinks is relevant)

Please also include a few sentences on why statewide advocacy work on LGBTQ issues appeals to you and what motivates you to create a better New Mexico.

2023 Legislative Report

2022 Legislative Report

Equality New Mexico 2023 Legislative Session Funder Debrief

As you probably know from my “Out of office” email responses, our social media, or the news, New Mexico just ended our 60-day legislative session on Saturday, March 18. And it was the most successful session for LGBTQ (and intersectional) issues in recent history.

I am extremely proud of the work Equality New Mexico did alongside our partner organizations, with the support of a dozen Legislative Champions.

This legislative session saw fewer bills introduced than previous years, but since our legislature can only do any business in the 60-day period (constitutionally), it still meant a LOT of work to kill the bad bills and move the good ones over the finish line!

Equality New Mexico went in with a handful of top-priority bills, but we were tracking, supporting, and working actively (both publicly and behind the scenes) to influence the outcome of a few dozen of them. 

Our top-priority bills that passed are historical and set the stage for New Mexico to be the safest state in the nation for LGBTQ people!

We removed the requirement for a newspaper ad when folks legally change their names; we prohibited local governments and public institutions from restricting or interfering with access to abortion or gender affirming healthcare; we prohibited local governments, healthcare providers, or anyone else involved from participating (or being compelled to participate) in the prosecution or civil lawsuits from other states against providers or patients seeking abortion or gender affirming healthcare. We established new definitions of Gender, Gender Identity, Sex, and Sexual Orientation in our non-discrimination law, “The Human Rights Act,” and we closed a loophole that previously prevented the non-discrimination law from applying to taxpayer-funded entities such as local governments, state agencies, or even school districts.  We passed broad, sweeping democracy reforms with the NM Voting Rights Act, which enshrined Native American voting protections in state law, created a permanent vote-by-mail list, re-enfranchised formerly incarcerated individuals, and created an automatic back-end voter registration system so that soon all eligible New Mexicans will be registered to vote whenever they interact with any state agency, like getting a driver’s license or applying for Medicaid.

New Mexico = Most protected state for LGBTQ people.

We helped our partners enact meaningful police reform by mandating a duty to intervene during excessive force situations and creating a database to track officers who have excessive use of force complaints and investigations, making it harder for them to hide by merely moving to another department and continuing bad behavior.

LGBTQ people = over policed, over prosecuted, over incarcerated.

Thanks to the large coalition of amazing partners, we were able to monitor and defeat all attempts to attack LGBTQ people, abortion access, voting access, and “tough on crime” policies.  

Thank you to our amazing partner organizations for prioritizing the lives of LGBTQ New Mexicans.

There is much work to be done moving forward, but the EQNM team will be taking a bit of a break to rest and recover, scattering vacations across April and May. We will be gearing up for our big c4 fundraiser in June, the 3rd annual Resilience Event part of our 30-year anniversary celebrations. And, of course, PRIDE season is right around the corner, so there is a lot to plan for that.

3rd Annual Resilience Event. Saturday June 3rd, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Albuquerque Social Club

Thank you for your support of us and our work, and especially for ensuring we have the team we need to accomplish such big victories.

There’s one week left in session—here’s how you can help push our bills over the finish line!

As most of you know, New Mexico’s 2023 Legislative Session is in full swing. EQNM has been hard at work in Santa Fe, fighting towards LGBTQ liberation. We’re grateful for everyone who has lobbied with us in the Roundhouse, interacted with our posts on social media, and sent emails to their legislators—we couldn’t do this work without you!

Here are links to check the status of our priority bills, as well as links to send emails about them to legislators:

HB 4, The NM Voting Rights Act

Check status | Contact your legislators

HB 207, The Human Rights Act Modernization

Check status | Contact your legislators

HB 43, Affirmative Consent Education in Schools

Check status | Contact your legislators

HB 7, Reproductive and Gender Affirming Healthcare Freedom Act

Check status | Contact your legislators

HB 31, Name Change Publication Repeal

Check status | Contact your legislators

Another great way to stay updated on our bills is to follow us on social media! We’re @equalitynm on Twitter and Instagram, @equalitynewmexico on TikTok, and @Equality New Mexico on Facebook.

There’s just a week left in the session, but we’re not slowing down. The work’s not over because it’s critical that we pass this legislation. Help push our bills over the finish line by using the links above to urge legislators to support pro-LGBTQ legislation!

Here's what we're up to: our 2023 Legislative Agenda!

World AIDS Day, Liberation, and Increased Attacks on LGBTQ People.

World AIDS Day, Liberation, and Increased Attacks on LGBTQ People.

Today is World AIDS Day, a day we set aside every year to honor those whose lives were taken by the HIV/AIDS epidemic and hopefully recommit ourselves to the work of ending this disease.   

So why would I sit down to write about World AIDS Day, Liberation, and the increased and ongoing attacks against LGBTQ people all at once?  Well, because the three are not inseparable.  From the Denver Principles and “Stop Killing Us” demands of the mid-80s to the current movement for better access to PrEP and PEP, Treatment as Prevention, and still fighting for honest, authentic Sexuality Education - HIV/AIDS activism has always been about liberation. 

Activists fighting for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention have always been fighting for bodily autonomy.  And Bodily Autonomy is Liberation.

 I’m not talking about the basic “it’s my body, my choice” framework of the past.  I am talking about Bodily Autonomy as the ability, without political or policy restrictions, without shame or stigma, without cultural or societal expectations - to make all of the decisions about what we do with our bodies, how we experience them, how we live in them, and the genuinely accessible ability to care for and heal them when needed.  This is our liberation, the liberation we are fighting for every day.

It is abundantly clear to me that we at EQNM, and we as Queer and Trans people owe so many of our victories to the work of these liberation fighters from the early AIDS epidemic. Demands for universal health care and the original call for marriage equality top the list. Still, it is a long list of successes in culture, policy shifts, and unfinished business. 

I recently told a journalist on the record that I believe we are living in the most dangerous time for LGBTQ people since the beginning of the “modern LGBTQ Rights Movement.”  At the onset of the epidemic, “GRIDS,” “Gay Cancer,” etc., were used to stoke the flames of hatred, fear, and violence against LGBTQ people.  Violence against gay men especially was justified by the perpetrators, with the idea that they were “saving” their communities from the disease “We” were spreading.  With hateful, bigoted, right-wing Pastors, Elected Officials, and even Pop Culture “Icons” blaming Gay people for this disease, we cannot be surprised by the increase in violence against LGBTQ people in the 80s.  Just as we cannot claim shock or surprise when armed people enter Queer spaces during a drag show and murder our siblings in cold blood after hearing countless claims that we are abusing and grooming children - simply by giving them an opportunity to see fabulousness, fun, and joy in a setting where gender rules are bent or broken. 

And so again, in this nation, we see the hateful rhetoric and attacks on us, bearing themselves out in physical manifestations of violence.  I believe strongly in the Free Speech concept, and we know, especially as LGBTQ people, that words lead to actions, and those actions are often dangerous and misguided.  

So what, then, are we indeed called to do on this World AIDS Day?  How do we celebrate the victories, honor the victims and survivors, find the resilience to keep fighting for our liberation, and manage to eat, breathe, drink, and sleep?  

With the heaviness of this World AIDS Day sitting on my heart and mind, I find myself converting anger and frustration into productive energy to move forward in this fight for liberation. I find myself breathing and eating in the spaces of grieving - because, like so many New Mexicans, what is grief if not shared over a meal with family and friends?   And I make sense of the confusion by celebrating the victories with salt grains of the not-yet-won.  I refuse to say lost. Nothing is truly lost just yet; there is time, there is work, and there is hope. 

We have made great strides in achieving healthcare, treatment, and prevention mechanisms that limit the number of us dying of HIV/AIDS in 2022.  We live in a state and nation that (currently, anyway) does not criminalize our sexual relationships and is on track to ensure the loving, long-term committed relationships we are in are continuously recognized moving forward.   We must constantly remind our communities, siblings, neighbors, and friends that we are not harming children, we do not have a “radical gay-genda,” and that abortion care and gender-affirming medical care are healthcare and healthcare is a human right-not a crime. 

Our fight is one for liberation - Bodily Autonomy in the truest sense.  We owe it to those who died of AIDS and those living with the disease today to keep fighting for liberation for us all.  So today, take a moment to grieve and remember, spend some time celebrating and rejoicing, and center yourself - for the work of the afternoon.  

Equality New Mexico is Hiring a Community Organizer

Employment type: Part-Time (20hrs/wk)

Salary Range: $17/Hr

POSITION: Community Organizer

RESPONSIBLE TO: Executive Director 

SUMMARY: Part-time Community Organizer focused on building community, movement, and political power in the NM LGBTQ community statewide through relationship building and mobilization. 

Job Explanation: Equality New Mexico is a statewide LGBTQ political advocacy, public education, and movement-building organization. We have been working to achieve LGBTQ liberation in New Mexico for 29 years, and are setting the stage for our second 30 years.  We are working to rebuild a community-driven movement to shift policy and systems in New Mexico, by including and centering the voices of Queer and Trans New Mexicans.   Our Community Organizer will be critical in this process, meeting, recruiting, training, and mobilizing members to support and lead the work of EQNM at the State, Local, and School Board levels.  

This position is responsible for:

• Communicating with our members regularly via email, phone, text, and in person.  

• Recruiting activists and volunteers to take actions on behalf of EQNM, including phone banking, door-to-door canvassing, text banking, and attending in-person events for political action.  

• Maintaining our membership database (with support from volunteers and other staff.)  

• One-on-one meetings with potential volunteers and leaders, recruiting for volunteer activities, and turnout to events.  

• The Organizer may travel around the state occasionally, but it will not be a significant portion of the job.   

Required Skills, Competencies & Experience:  

• Ability to develop public relationships with new people not yet engaged in organizing or movement work 

• Move people into public life in order to impact policy decisions (training will be provided)

• No previous organizing experience is needed just have a desire to learn and be open to growth and development

• Ability to connect the dots between people, organizations, and struggles for justice through strong communication skills (both written and verbal)

• Values rigor and a desire to not just get things done, but get things done well. 

Who should apply?

You should be eager to participate in the larger movement for Queer and Trans liberation in New Mexico.  You should be excited to learn new skills, eager to perfect the ones you have developed, open to feedback, and proactively seek new tips, tricks, and best practices.   You like meeting new people, enjoy getting to know them, and feel compelled to involve the people around you in the movement for action and change in our communities.  You are proficient in the use of technology and social media, but you understand that activism and political power isn’t built entirely online.  You find yourself hearing peers and friends talking about what's going on around us, and thinking about the ways they could be changed.   You don’t seek to be the face of every solution, but you are always looking for ways to help others become the solution.  The ideal candidate will meet most of these requirements. However, if you are committed to protecting LGBTQ New Mexicans and care about elections, and want to learn how to be an organizer, please apply!

We value a diverse workforce and an inclusive culture. All interested individuals, especially people of color, women, persons with disabilities, and persons who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, nonbinary, or intersex are encouraged to apply.