re: #89 SpaceJesus

Have to confess that when I read the URL nmcompcomm.us, I thought it read nincompoop.us.

Back to the issue at hand though, New Mexico has an interesting assortment of laws involved here. NM law prohibits public accommodations from discriminating against people based on their sexual orientation. The photographers don’t contest their public accommodation status under NMHRA. By refusing to photograph the commitment ceremony between two women, they violated the NMHRA but this does not violate the Free Speech or the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The key is that NM has this NMHRA - NMSA 1978, 28-1-1 to -13, which extends additional requirements for access to services that other states don’t have.

The photographer admitted that they were subject to the NMHRA, so that was the ballgame. If they’re providing photographic services to the public, they can’t discriminate against someone based on sexual orientation.