Date: Wed, 12 Mar 1997 00:42:31 -0700
From: summers@rt66.com (Bob Summersgill)
Subject: New Mexico Anti-Marriage bill passes committee

The New Mexico House Consumer and Public Affairs Committee voted tonight
after two hours of testimony to pass the  Anti-marriage bill (HB-640). The
7-0 vote in favor of the discriminatory bill was expected.

The bill now goes to the House Judiciary Committee. Should the bill pass
the Judiciary committee, it would need to pass the full house, Senate
Committees and the full Senate by March 22, the end of the session. If it
has not been passed by both chambers, it will be dead at the end of the
session. It could not be re-introduced until 1999.

Governor Johnson has said that he will sign the bill.

SJR-8, the Anti-marriage constitutional amendment still hasn't been heard
in a committee. It faces the same deadline, but could be re-introduced in
1998.

Despite the unanimous vote, the testimony presented by our side was
extraordinarily good, but demonstrated that votes are decided on election
day, and public hearings are little more than window dressing.

The pooorly organized opposition strayed far and wide away from the bill,
discussed how without this bill humans and animals would start to marry and
other less-than-rational arguements. They provided no experts or
professionals to testify on any legal or technical issues. The usual
Cameron data abounded without attribution.

A 13 year old girl with two mothers provided the best testimony of the
evening, but swayed no votes.

The Christian Coalition, taking the lead from the CC in Arizona, claimed
that their un-opened and unexamined box contained 15,000 signatures on a
petition in support of "the spirit" of the bill.

Following the anti-marriage bill, testimony was heard on the New Mexico
Non-Discrimination Act (HB-506). It was tabled on a 6-2 vote. Tabling stops
its progress through the legislature, effectively killing it.




Bob Summersgill, publisher of the New Mexico Rainbow,
The newspaper for the Lesbian and Gay communities of New Mexico.
summers@rt66.com      http://rt66.com/summers/bob.html

"Marriage has long been recognized as one of the vital personal rights
essential to the orderly pursuit of happiness by free men."
                     --Loving v. Virginia (1967)