Southwest Women's Law Center has teamed up with the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico, the ACLU LGBT Project, and the ACLU of New Mexico to present Know Your Rights Trainings for transgender and gender non-conforming communities in New Mexico. We will be providing information about:
 

• Changing your Name and Gender Marker on Identification;
• Police, Prison & Jail Issues;
• Employment Discrimination;
• Public Accommodations Discrimination;
• Health Care Access;
• Safety in Schools; and,
• Family Law Issues

Find us in your area:

• Albuquerque: May 5, 2014, 6pm-8pm at Equality New Mexico’s Office, 625 Silver Avenue SW, Suite 310, Albuquerque, NM 87102
• Las Cruces: May 6, 2014, 6pm-8pm at New Mexico State University, Corbett Center Student Union, Dona Ana Room
• Roswell: May 7, 2014, 6pm-8pm at Alianza, 1200 S. Richardson, Roswell, NM 88203
• Farmington: May 8, 2014, 6pm-8pm at Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 219 N. Orchard Ave. Farmington, NM 87401
• Gallup: May 9, 2014, 11:30am-1:30pm at Student Services Technology Center, Room 200, 705 Gurley Ave. Gallup, NM 87301

All events are free and open to the public. Please call Kate Walsham, SWLC’s Tom Steel Legal Fellow, at (505) 244-0502 or email [email protected] with any questions. We are also conducting CLE trainings for New Mexico Attorneys. More information about these events is available on the SWLC website.

Texan couple to fly helicopter into New Mexico for dream wedding

On Tuesday, April 29^th, Texas couple Jeff Robertson and Jeremiah Pyant of Houston, TX will board a helicopter in Texas, where marriage for same sex couples is illegal, and cross into New Mexico where the ACLU’s case Greigo v. Oliver established the freedom to marry for same sex couples in December, 2013. Jeff and Jeremiah are one of five couples nationwide selected to receive $5,000 towards the wedding of their dreams as part of the “My Big Gay (Il)legal Wedding” contest, the ACLU’s campaign to raise awareness regarding inequality in states where same-sex marriage is not yet legal.

After meeting on an airplane, the couple catapulted to national awareness when the video of their surprise engagement went viral. Because of Jeremiah's job as a flight attendant, he could literally be recognized as a legally married man one minute—and not the next—as he flies from state to state.
 
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZRHwRXCkeo&feature=youtu.be
 
 
 

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The Department of Justice (DOJ) has released its findings after an exhaustive investigation into whether the the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) engages in a pattern or practice of constitutional violations. The full report is available online here. A summary of the top-line findings of the report are as follows:

Findings
The Justice Department found reasonable cause to believe that the Albuquerque Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. The Justice Department specifically found three patterns of excessive force:

• Officers too frequently use deadly force against people who pose a minimal threat in situations where the conduct of the officers heightens the danger and contributes to the need to use force;

• Officers use less lethal force, including Tasers on people who are passively resisting, non-threatening, observably unable to comply with orders, or pose only a minimal threat to the officers; and

• Encounters between Albuquerque Police officers and persons with mental illness and in crisis too frequently result in a use of force or a higher level of force than necessary.

 
The Albuquerque Journal has further developing coverage