Tag Archives: State: New Mexico

Queerty: “The Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Huguenins, has promised to appeal. And we actually agree with ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence’s argument: ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs. The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy? American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

CitizenLink: “Jordan Lorence, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), said it exposes the threat such laws pose to religious liberty. ‘The court showed very little respect for that,’ he said, ‘and said that this was no different than a caterer serving food and was liable to this same-sex couple.’”

Associated Press: “The City Council in Las Vegas, N.M., has unanimously rejected a proposal by Mayor Tony Marquez to open each meeting with an invocation.”

LifeSiteNews: “‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy? American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at the Academic Freedom File: “Also, the District Court rejected the religious liberty claims under the federal and state constitutions. Again, the court diminishes the impact of the state’s actions against the photography company, with its statements that Elane Photography is merely being asked to photograph something for a fee. There is no sense that people can be asked by their customers to do something with their businesses that violate the business owners’ beliefs. A photographer who is a vegetarian might decline to create photos for the promotional materials of a meat packing plant. If New Mexico law made that an act of discrimination, the District Court opinion says that there is no First Amendment protection. That can’t be right, and that is why we will appeal this decision to the New Mexico Court of Appeals.”

Eugene Volokh has discussed the ruling in Elane Photography LLC v. Willock in four recent posts, beginning with: Compelling Speech by Commercial Photographers, Freelance Writers, Musicians, and So On.

WorldNetDaily: “A district judge in New Mexico has affirmed a state Civil Rights Commission order that a small photography company pay $6,600 for refusing to violate the owners’ Christian beliefs by photographing a lesbian ‘ceremony,’ even though same-sex marriage isn’t legal in the state . . . ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience.’”

“Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund will appeal a New Mexico judge’s decision to uphold a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission against an Albuquerque photography company . . . ”

“The decision was handed down last Friday, but the opinion wasn’t distributed until yesterday . . . ”

CNN: “They’re known as ‘alienation of affection’ suits, when an ‘outsider’ interferes in a marriage. The suits are allowed in seven states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah.”

KRQE: “Messages questioning religion are popping up across the city of Albuquerque just weeks before the biggest religious holidays in the world.”

LifeNews: “The ACLU of New Mexico is defending a state resident charged with killing his pregnant girlfriend and her unborn child. Marino Leyba, Jr., stands accused of killing 17-year-old Sarah Lovato, her father and Lovato’s nine-month-old unborn child.”

KOB reports: “A year after a law was passed to stop human trafficking from Mexico into New Mexico, the state has yet to prosecute anyone.”

“The American Civil Liberties Union on Tuesday announced that the state has settled a two-year-old lawsuit, agreeing to provide retirement health insurance to the domestic partners of state employees.”

The Governor of New Mexico issued the following statment:
“Governor Bill Richardson today signed House Bill 285, Repeal of the Death Penalty. The Governor’s remarks follow: ‘Today marks the end of a long, personal journey for me and the issue of the death penalty. Throughout my adult life, I have been a firm believer in the death penalty as a just punishment – in very rare instances, and only for the most heinous crimes. I still believe that.’”

Associated Press: New Mexico Secretary of Education Veronica Garcia has said a Bloomfield school can use a curriculum that contains religious content until the end of the school year.

Becket Fund: Arguments to be heard for American Atheists v. Duncan, No. 08-4061. Memorials for fallen troopers erected on government property by Utah Highway Patrol Association challenged by American Atheists. At risk: all roadside memorials in CO, NM, UT, KS, …

The Daily Times:  Less than three months remain in the school year, and an elementary school teacher might lose her curriculum because of its religious implications.   Kathy Harper uses a curriculum purchased from A Beka Academy to teach the …

. . . New Hampshire’s state motto is ‘Live Free or Die.’ But is New Hampshire the most free place to live in the United States? Apparently it is, according to a new study, Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom . . .

“Lopsided vote likely the result of church pressure, concerns of same-sex marriage”

EnewsPF: “The Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights group, today praised New Mexico’s state Senate Judiciary Committee for voting 6-5 to advance the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, which would allow …

ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on KRUI radio to discuss the pending domestic partner bill in New Mexico. The mp3 file runs just under 8 minutes. The Colorado Independent is running this attack piece: GOP, Christian legal group misleads …

ADF attorney Jim Campbell appeared on KNKT radio (ABQ Connect) to discuss New Mexico’s pending domestic partnerships bill. The mp3 file is here and runs just under 7 minutes. Related: ACLU uses YouTube to argue its case on domestic partnerships …

The New Mexico Independent reports: “One group in favor of domestic partnership legislation has taken a creative route in advocating for the legislation in New Mexico. The American Civil Liberties Union has created several short videos of New Mexicans explaining …

KOAT.com: Sen. William Sharer, (R) Farmington said, “The bill we have before us, senate bill 12, is just gay marriage in disguise, and a poor disguise at that.” . . . Austin Nimocks with the Alliance Defense Fund said, “We …

A proposal giving same-sex couples the same legal protections and benefits as married couples cleared a difficult legislative hurdle and is headed to the Senate for a vote.

Citizen Link: “Oklahoma lawmakers are considering a bill that would allow students and instructors to examine views critical of Darwinism . . . Last year, Louisiana passed an academic-freedom bill. New Mexico has similar legislation pending . . . “

Carlsbad Current-Argus: Unmarried couples would get the same rights and privileges as their married counterparts under a bill recommended Wednesday by a Senate Committee.The Senate Public Affairs Committee voted 5-4 to recommend passage of Senate Bill 12, also known as …

One News Now: A bill is being rushed through the New Mexico legislature that could lead to homosexual “marriage.” Hearings are being heard this week on the Domestic Partner Rights and Responsibilities Act, which passed the state House by a 33-31 margin.

Federal prosecutors in New Mexico believe they may be the first to use a 2004 law to charge someone with killing a fetus while causing the death or injury of the mother . . .

The Daily Times reports:  Hundreds of people attended an anti-abortion rally Sunday afternoon in front of a clinic connected to other clinics that provide abortions. Organizers counted about 375 people who marched at Planned Parenthood in Farmington as part of …

The Religion Clause Blog reports that an appeal will not be filed in the suit challenging the crosses on the Las Cruces’ city seal. The 10th Circuit denied en banc review after an earlier panel held that the city symbol …

Numerous organizations and public officials filed friend-of-the-court briefs Monday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit to defend the constitutionality of roadside memorials for fallen Utah troopers

The Las Cruces Sun reports: . . . Weinbaum, reached by phone, called the decision “interesting” and said he’ll have to confer with his attorney about whether to pursue the appeal further. The lawsuit against the city, first filed in …

The Almagordo Daily News reports: “ALBUQUERQUE The chairwoman of an Otero County Republican women’s group on Tuesday defended a letter to the editor in which she wrote, ”I believe Muslims are our enemies.” Marcia Stirman, a 56-year-old interior decorator, also called …

In a letter sent to the IRS on Wednesday (Oct. 22), Americans United for Separation of Church and State accused Paterson Bishop Arthur Serratelli of illegal partisanship for lambasting Obama’s support of abortion rights . . .

KOAT.com reports: “‘Seductions’ at Juan Tabo and Menaul had been cited since the summer for devoting too much of its floor space to selling adult novelties, which violated zoning codes for the building according to city officials. The city had …

“. . . the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of two cases challenging the display of three Latin crosses as a symbol of Las Cruces, New Mexico . . . ”

The Leonard Link Blog reports: “Deciding what appears to be a question of first impression in New Mexico, the state’s court of appeals, an intermediate appellate court, ruled on July 25 that a written agreement excusing a sperm donor from …

The Religion Clause Blog reports: “In Ranton, New Mexico last Friday, Wayne Bent was indicted for inappropriately touching three minor girls while ‘lying naked’ with them.” Small Town Newspapers Service reports: “The attorney for the leader of what many people …

The commission ruled that the company, run by a Christian husband and wife, was guilty of “sexual orientation” discrimination under state antidiscrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony.”

Marylee Shrider comments on Bakersfield.com. She writes: I don’t know what was more shocking about the recent state Supreme Court decision to redefine marriage — the reasoning behind the ruling or the justices’ blatant disregard for the will of the …

ABQ Journal reports: Clovis High School students are defending their inclusion of photos and interviews with gay couples in the yearbook after criticism by a former New Mexico lieutenant governor and Christian groups.  Student editor-in-chief Maggie Chavez and staff member …

fficials at a middle school in New Mexico have prevented a pro-life student from organizing a silent abortion protest next week. James Monroe Middle School student Jannelle Bushnell hoped to get friends to wear red tape on their mouths to be the silent voice for babies who die in abortions.

The Elane photography case in New Mexico will be discussed on the O’Reilly Factor this evening. In this case, a New Mexico Human Rights Commission has held that it was illegal for a photographer to refuse to photograph a same …

The New Mexico Human Rights Commission has released an opinion in the Elane Photography case. In this case, a lesbian couple sought to have their same sex “wedding” photographed. Elane Photography refused to photograph it based on religious objections. The …

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence made this appearance with Dori Monson on Newstalk 710 KIRO to discuss the Elane New Mexico photography case. The mp3 file is here and runs just over 6 minutes. To see numerous posts regarding this case, …

Clearly, the commission is so consumed with advancing the homosexual agenda that it is willing to trample the couple’s constitutional rights in the process.

It occurs to me that if a photographer can’t refuse a job like this, then almost anyone else in the business of providing a service is in danger.

Eugene Volokh has this post on Volokh Conspiracy discussing the effort to force a NM photograph to photograph same sex “weddings.” In this post, Volokh questions the role of the ACLU in the case. While the ACLU is not formally …

Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund say they will appeal a ruling by the New Mexico Civil Rights Commission Wednesday because of its “stunning disregard” for the First Amendment.

Elane refused to photograph Vanessa Willock’s same-sex commitment ceremonies, and just today the New Mexico Human Rights Commission held that this violated state antidiscrimination law. Elane has been ordered to pay over $6600 . . .

Posing as a donor, UCLA law student James O’Keefe called facilities in Oklahoma and New Mexico and asked to make a donation specifically to be use to kill African-American unborn children.

Said [Jordan] Lorence, “If you give government the right to punish people for having a different opinion than the prevailing secular orthodoxy, you’re saying whoever controls government can suppress dissent. I think we embrace that idea at our peril.”

The mp3 audio (6:58 mins) of Jordan’s appearance on the Laura Ingraham show can be accessed here. Our earlier post on the topic is here.

Currently scheduled for 8:35 am (MST), Jordan will discuss the case of a New Mexico photographer who is being investigated for refusing to photograph a same sex "marriage." Laura Ingraham’s website is here and the station guide for her show …

ADF has been advised that tonight Hugh Hewitt is tentatively scheduled to discuss the investigation of a New Mexico photographer who refused to cover a same sex “marriage.”  More details are available in this ADF press release. See also this …

Chaplain who recited the first Hindu prayers in Colorado and New Mexico Senates last week, will be reading the similar first Hindu opening prayers in three more Western states . . .

. . . the Senate Judiciary committee has killed the domestic partnership bill, HB9 . . .

Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel Doug Napier will address the American Legion Department of New Mexico Mid-Winter Conference Saturday regarding the defense of veterans’ memorials in New Mexico and nationwide.

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Lars Larson radio show to discuss the case pending in New Mexico where state authorities are investigating a photographer for refusing to photograph same-sex “marriage” ceremonies. The mp3 audio file (9:35 minutes) can …

ADF attorneys represent a Christian photographer being tried under state antidiscrimination laws for declining to photograph a same-sex “commitment ceremony.”

Today’s FRC Washington Weekly Update reports on the status of the marriage battle in several states.  In addition to the states mentioned by FRC, battles over marriage or domestic partnerships are also brewing in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Mexico, …

"This bill would offer basic legal protections to same-sex couples unable to marry as well opposite-sex couples, many of whom are senior citizens and people with disabilities, that choose not to marry for financial reasons." The proposal, which is part …