Legislation to ban equal marriage rights has
passed a key senate committee in New Mexico. Gov. Bill Richardson, but he has said that he [http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/10519.html supports] the DOMA. He also claims to support a domestic partnership bill which narrowly passed the same committee but which does not seem to have the same level of support as the DOMA.
A house committee killed a bill that would have banned marriage and civil unions and fined clergy who perform same-sex marriages. I'm not sure how they will vote on this version but apparently GLBT organizations are focused on the partnership bill because they don't think they can stop the DOMA.
It's pretty damn sad, if you ask me, to see Democrats selling out the easiest target yet again, but it's not a big surprise. I keep comparing Richardson to Jim Doyle, the Wisconsin governor who is generally considered minor-league because he isn't "telegenic" and doesn't have any great accomplishment as governor. Yet Doyle has fought every step of the way to protect those who supported him and to protect the people of Wisconsin. He vetoed a DOMA even though it put him in a potentially unpleasant political state and even though the WI leg is run by some of the vilest Republicans in the country. Doyle has some level of principles, and yet the national party considers him worthless, whereas Richardson, who sells out gays even though he is personally popular with NM voters, who is horrible on TV and seems to have little interest in how he appears to the public, who has done very little of note in spite of a Dem legislature and who will never be able to shake the specter of Wen Ho Lee, is supposed to be a leading 2008 Presidential candidate.
With "rising stars" like this, the Democrats will rise all the way to the top of the toilet bowl in 2008. No mas.