NM Dem Senate Caucus Leader Introduces Another DOMA

Two so-called Defense of Marriage Acts (DOMA) have already been stopped in the NM Legislature this year on the House side. Now we have to contend with another version on the Senate side, introduced by Sen. Lideo Rainaldi (D-Gallup), pictured right, who calls himself a Democrat. In fact, he holds the leadership position of Majority Caucus Chair. I find it especially galling that a Democratic leader would introduce such an unfair, anti-democratic bill. How about you? Here's what Equality NM had to say:

From Equality NM: DOMA NUMBER THREE
On Friday, Senator Lidio Rainaldi (D-Gallup-4), pictured left, introduced the third DOMA of the Legislative Session, Senate Bill 816. This legislation mirrors the previously introduced House Bill 395 and seeks to define marriage as solely between a man and a woman and deny recognition of valid marriages performed between same-sex couples in other jurisdictions.

The Senate DOMA will be much harder to kill. The Bill must go through Senate Judiciary, which is the Committee on which Senator Rainaldi currently sits. We are once again facing a vicious and hate filled public hearing on the Senate Floor. EQNM will continue to provide updates as this legislation is scheduled for public hearing.

The Attacks Continue! Help Us Stop Them By Donating Now To Equality New Mexico's Lobbying Efforts! Also, EQNM has a new Legistration Tracker that makes it much easier to follow bills of interest to the civil liberties and GLBT community and everyone who cares about equality under the law for all Americans. (End of EQNM alert.)

Note that our Democratic Senate Leadership assigned Rainaldi's DOMA bill to only two committees, unlike Sen. Ortiz y Pino's NM impeachment bill, for instance, that was assigned to be heard in three committee, which generally means the bill will have a hard time. What are NM Senate Democrats like Michael Sanchez, who has much to say about committee assignments, thinking?

Sadly, Sen. Rainaldi has consistently supported discriminatory legislation that would prevent all of our citizens from being treated equally under civil law and has voted with conservative Republicans against bills that would help minorities achieve equality here. See this post from the 2005 legislative session.

As most thoughtful people realize, religious beliefs are one thing, and are protected by our Constitution. Expecting civil laws to enforce particular religious beliefs, however, is misguided at best and mean-spirited and unconstitutional at worst. Let's hope that potential Democratic supporters of Rainaldi's bill can be respectfully persuaded with logic and real-life stories to see the difference.

And with Gov. Richardson running for president, let's hope he steps up and clearly denounces legislation like Rainaldi's aimed solely at stirring the pot and making headlines for the sponsors in areas where GLBT rights are often misunderstood or outright mocked.