I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
A District Court Judge ruled this week that an Albuquerque photo studio violated New Mexico’s Human Rights Act in 2006, when the owner refused to photograph a lesbian couple’s commitment ceremony—simply because they’re lesbians, the Albuquerque Journal reports.
In 2008, the state Human Rights Commission ruled in favor of Vanessa Willock, saying Elane Photography discriminated against her based on sexual orientation. The company was ordered $6,637.93 in attorneys’ fees, but owner Elaine Huguenin appealed. Huguenin, an evangelical Christian, said the ceremony would have conflicted with her faith.
As the Journal reports, District Judge Alan Malott was unsympathetic to Huguenin and her husband:
“Neither (the studio) nor its owner-operators have been prohibited from practicing their religion or adhering to their beliefs. At most, they have been directed to respect … Willock’s belief system and religious observation,” Malott wrote. “They are not being asked to participate in the observation or to adopt — or even defend — (Willock’s) beliefs. They are merely being asked to photograph it, for an agreed fee in the ordinary course of their business.”
The case received national attention from outraged supporters of gay rights, as well as outraged conservatives. National Public Radio included the story in a series called “Gay Rights, Religious Liberties.” The Christian Science Monitor wrote about it in a story about how gay marriage affects church groups. And World Net Daily published a fiery piece about ”the intolerance of the homosexual agenda.
