New Mexico legislature sends anti-discrimination law to governor’s desk

The New Mexico legislature this week passed legislation to modernize the state’s anti-discrimination law by adding explicit protections for LGBTQ people.

The bill, officially titled the Human Rights Modernization Act, now heads to the governor’s desk for final approval.

The proposed law, which New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham (D) is expected to sign, establishes a broader slate of protections for LGBTQ people by defining gender and sex in state law and expanding existing definitions of sexual orientation and gender identity.

It was first introduced in January by state Democratic Reps. Kristina Ortez and Andrea Romero and Democratic Sen. Carrie Hamblen, one of five openly LGBTQ lawmakers in the New Mexico legislature.

State lawmakers backing the proposed legislation have argued that the measure is necessary to close a loophole in New Mexico’s anti-discrimination law, which doesn’t explicitly protect LGBTQ people.

The new law prohibits school districts, government agencies and public contractors from discriminating based on sex, sexual orientation, gender or gender identity when providing services.

The legislation also strikes the word “handicap” from state law, replacing it with “disability.”

Debate on the bill in the legislature centered mostly on transgender youth, with Democrats and Republicans clashing over whether transgender minors should be allowed to use accommodations like locker rooms and restrooms that match their gender identity.

GOP-backed proposals to add exemptions for religious groups or schools that receive public funding were rejected.

“They simply want to live their lives as who they are,” New Mexico Democratic Rep. Dayan Hochman-Vigil, whose stepchild is transgender, said this month on the House floor, the Albuquerque Journal reported.

New Mexico already ranks high when it comes to LGBTQ equality, and just one anti-LGBTQ bill — a transgender athlete ban — has been introduced in the legislature this session, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

More than 400 bills targeting LGBTQ rights have been introduced in state legislatures nationwide this year, according to the ACLU, already surpassing last year’s record-breaking total of 315 bills.

Close to half of bills under consideration this year aim to prevent transgender students from participating in school sports, force teachers to out their students and censor classroom discussions of sexual orientation or gender identity.

On Tuesday, Marshall Martinez, the executive director of the LGBTQ advocacy group Equality New Mexico, said passing the state’s Human Rights Modernization Act “is a critical step to protecting LGBTQ youth” as a “firestorm” of anti-LGBTQ legislation blazes across the country.

In neighboring states Arizona, Utah, Oklahoma and Texas, transgender women and girls have been barred from competing on female sports teams. Laws restricting access to gender affirming health care for transgender youth have also been enacted in Arizona and Utah.

Oklahoma and Texas are considering passing similar measures, though the proposed penalties are much more severe.

“We are finally saying to Queer and Trans New Mexicans – we see you, we support you, and we will protect you,” Martinez said Tuesday. “New Mexico will no longer support, or allow tax-payer-funded discrimination because of this effort.”