New Mexico

03/22/2013
Marriage for Same-Sex Couples

Marriage in New Mexico, Civil Unions in Colorado – The Wave Continues!

By James Esseks, Director, ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender & AIDS Project at 10:36am

It seems like every time you turn around these days, someone is announcing new support for the freedom to marry, which is the result of years of groundwork that the ACLU and other organizations have laid to get us to this incredible place.

Yesterday in New Mexico, we filed a new state court lawsuit seeking the freedom to marry for same-sex couples. We have partnered with the National Center for Lesbian Rights for the litigation, and both organizations have also joined forces with Equality New Mexico and Freedom to Marry on a related public education campaign to help New Mexicans show their neighbors why the freedom to marry is so important. We're riding a wave of enthusiasm in New Mexico, as the Mayor and City Council in Santa Fe announced earlier this week that there's good reason to believe that state law already allows same-sex couples to marry. We think that's right, but know that we're going to need guidance from the courts to get a final answer, so we've filed this case both to present the issue to the courts and to illustrate why denying the freedom to marry is so unfair.

Read More»
08/24/2012
Pregnant and Parenting Teens

What’s Wrong with Blaming Teen Parents?

By Denicia Cadena & Micaela Cadena. According to recent data, New Mexico has the 2nd highest teen pregnancy rate in the country; it follows that New Mexico has high numbers of parents who had their first children as teenagers. As a young mama recently shared,

Read More»
07/20/2012
Customs and Border Protection

PBS To Highlight Abuses at the Border

By Vicki B. Gaubeca, ACLU of New Mexico & Krystal Gómez, ACLU of Texas at 5:34pm

A year ago this week, a young woman working with the ACLU of New Mexico arrived at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) offices at the Ysleta-Zaragoza port of entry in El Paso/Ciudad Juárez. She was there to meet with a New Mexico State Police sergeant investigating her allegations of sexual assault by a Border Patrol agent that occurred while she was detained at a fixed checkpoint in New Mexico. The meeting had been arranged in advance with CBP officials at the port of entry by the NM State Police, and CBP was made aware of the nature of the meeting.

Read More»
04/20/2012
Excessive Force

PBS Investigates Excessive Force at the Border

By Elizabeth Beresford, ACLU at 2:04pm

The ACLU of New Mexico will be featured tonight on PBS’ Need to Know.

In partnership with the Investigative Fund of the Nation Institute, Need to Know investigates whether U.S. border agents have been using excessive force in an effort to curb illegal immigration. Eight people have been killed along the border in the past two years. One man died a short time after being beaten and tased, an event recorded by two eyewitnesses whose video is the centerpiece of the report. Both eyewitnesses say the man offered little or no resistance. One told Need to Know that she felt like she watched someone being “murdered,” and the San Diego coroner’s office classified the death as a “homicide.”

Read More»
03/22/2012
Title IX

You Have a Right to an Education: Breaking Down the Barriers Facing Pregnant and Parenting Teens in School

Teenage moms and moms-to-be are treated with shocking hostility when they are just trying get an education.

Read More»
Statistics image