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.
Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., released a video Tuesday announcing that he will support legislation that would effectively repeal the Defense of Marriage Act. The legislation, called the Respect for Marriage Act, is sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and progressive groups have been pressuring their senators to cosponsor the legislation.
Udall made his announcement on a video first featured on the Democratic blog Democracy for New Mexico.
In the video, Udall says he believes that the decision on same-sex marriage should come from the states.
“If a state allows same-sex marriage, then the federal government must also recognize those marriages as valid,” Udall said in the video. “To do otherwise would be unconstitutional.”
The Defense of Marriage Act, which bars the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, passed in 1996, during the Bill Clinton administration. Udall noted in his video that, in the past 15 years, “same-sex marriages have become legal in five states and the District of Columbia.”
Same-sex marriage is not legal in the state of New Mexico. Pushes to legalize civil unions have failed in the state Legislature in recent years, and current Gov. Susana Martinez is opposed to the civil unions.
In New Mexico, Democracy for New Mexico joined with the Courage Campaign to ask Udall and Sen. Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., to become cosponsors of the legislation.
