BLOOMFIELD, NM – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico filed an Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) request with the City of Bloomfield, NM, requesting records regarding the city’s planned Ten Commandments monument. The monument, soon to be installed in front of the city hall, may violate the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which prohibits the government from establishing or endorsing religious beliefs. Through this IRPA request, the ACLU of New Mexico seeks to determine whether the City of Bloomfield chose to erect this monument for a religious purpose.

“Religious freedom thrives when the government stays out of religion and does not endorse one faith over another,” said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson. “Matters of religious belief should be left to individuals, families and faith communities, not to governments or political majorities.”

Federal courts have repeatedly affirmed that the First Amendment prohibits the government from promoting one religion over another, or even showing preference between religion and non-religion. In many cases, monuments on public property featuring the Ten Commandments have been ruled as unconstitutional.

As recently as 2009, the 10^th Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Haskell County, Oklahoma to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the county courthouse grounds, saying that a “reasonable observer” would conclude that the monument was an endorsement of religion. The county’s defense of the monument cost local taxpayers $200,000 in legal fees.
“Which version of the Ten Commandments will the City of Bloomfield choose to endorse?” questioned ACLU-NM Staff Attorney Leon Howard. “Catholic? Protestant? Hebraic? The versions are all different. The City can’t erect the monument without snubbing one religious faith or another.”

Read the IPRA request here: Bloomfield IPRA Request

 

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This weekend Las Cruces celebrated Southern New Mexico Pride, and the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights was proud to be in attendance. As the ACLU staff collected signatures for a petition asking New Mexico Senator Jeff Bingaman to become a cosponsor of the bill that repeals the so-called "Defense of Marriage Act," we noticed that Southern New Mexico Pride had its first anti-gay protester.

Now, we at the ACLU will be the first to defend anyone's right to free speech--even if we find that speech extremely offensive. This lone protester's opinion was especially hateful and abhorrent, but he had every right to publicly express that opinion. It has always been the ACLU's stance that the best response to bad speech is more, better speech. And that is exactly what the good folks down at Southern New Mexico Pride delivered.

Rather than get into a heated, nasty confrontation with the protester, the Pride-goers simply cranked up Lady Ga-Ga's self-affirming anthem "Born this Way" and drowned out the protester's hateful remarks. You can watch the video below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgkZYAO-G_E&feature=youtu.be

This is what America looks like. You have the constitutional right to express hatred and homophobia. But we reserve our constitutional right to drown you out with a celebration of diversity, inclusivity and fairness.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHM3AiK2fwA

Some public schools are using web filtering software to block student access to positive info about LGBT issues and organizations. Blocking all LGBT content violates students' First Amendment rights to free speech. They also violate the Equal Access Act, which requires equal access to school resources for all extracurricular clubs, including gay-straight alliances and LGBT support groups. Some schools have even configured their web filters to block access to websites for positive LGBT rights organizations, but still allow access to anti-LGBT sites that condemn LGBT people or urge us to try to change our sexual orientation. This is called viewpoint discrimination, and it's also illegal.