AN ACT
RELATING TO HUMAN RIGHTS; MAKING IT UNLAWFUL TO DISCRIMINATE
BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY; PROHIBITING QUOTAS BASED ON
SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
Section 1. Section 28-1-2 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969,
Chapter 196, Section 2, as amended) is amended to read:
"28-1-2. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Human Rights
Act:
A. "person" means one or more
individuals, a partnership, association, organization, corporation, joint
venture, legal representative, trustees, receivers or the state and all of its
political subdivisions;
B. "employer" means any person
employing four or more persons and any person acting for an employer;
C. "commission" means the human rights
commission;
D. "director" means the director of
the human rights division of the labor department;
E. "employee" means any person in the
employ of an employer or an applicant for employment;
F. "labor organization" means any
organization that exists for the purpose in whole or in part of collective
bargaining or of dealing with employers concerning grievances, terms or
conditions of employment or of other mutual aid or protection in connection
with employment;
G. "employment agency" means any
person regularly undertaking with or without compensation to procure
opportunities to work or to procure, recruit or refer employees;
H. "public accommodation" means any
establishment that provides or offers its services, facilities, accommodations
or goods to the public, but does not include a bona fide private club or other
place or establishment that is by its nature and use distinctly private;
I. "housing accommodation" means any
building or portion of a building that is constructed or to be constructed,
which is used or intended for use as the residence or sleeping place of any
individual;
J. "real property" means lands,
leaseholds or commercial or industrial buildings, whether constructed or to be
constructed, offered for sale or rent, and any land rented or leased for the
use, parking or storage of house trailers;
K. "secretary" means the secretary of
labor;
L. "unlawful discriminatory practices"
means those unlawful practices and acts specified in Section 28-1-7 NMSA 1978;
M. "physical or mental handicap" means
a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one or more of a
person's major life activities. A person
is also considered to be physically or mentally handicapped if he has a record
of a physical or mental handicap or is regarded as having a physical or mental
handicap;
N. "major life activities" means
functions such as caring for one's self, performing manual tasks, walking,
seeing, hearing, speaking, breathing, learning and working;
O. "applicant for employment" means a
person applying for a position as an employee;
P. "sexual orientation" means
heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality, whether actual or perceived; and
Q. "gender identity" means a person's
self-perception, or perception of that person by another, of
the person's identity as a male or female based upon the person's appearance,
behavior or physical characteristics that are in accord with or opposed to the
person's physical anatomy, chromosomal sex or sex at birth."
Section 2. Section 28-1-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969,
Chapter 196, Section 7, as amended) is amended to read:
"28‑1‑7. UNLAWFUL DISCRIMINATORY PRACTICE.‑‑It
is an unlawful discriminatory practice for:
A. an employer, unless based on a bona fide
occupational qualification or other statutory prohibition, to refuse to hire,
to discharge, to promote or demote or to discriminate in matters of
compensation, terms, conditions or privileges of employment against any person
otherwise qualified because of race, age, religion, color, national origin,
ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental handicap
or serious medical condition, or, if the employer has fifty or more employees,
spousal affiliation; provided, however, that 29 U.S.C. Section 631(c)(1) and
(2) shall apply to discrimination based on age;
B. a labor organization to exclude a person or
to expel or otherwise discriminate against any of its members or against any
employer or employee because of race, religion, color, national origin,
ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation,
physical or mental handicap or serious medical condition;
C. any employer, labor organization or joint
apprenticeship committee to refuse to admit or employ any person in any program
established to provide an apprenticeship or other training or retraining
because of race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual
orientation, gender identity, physical or mental handicap or serious medical
condition, or, if the employer has fifty or more employees, spousal
affiliation;
D. any person, employer, employment agency or
labor organization to print or circulate or cause to be printed or circulated
any statement, advertisement or publication, to use any form of application for
employment or membership or to make any inquiry regarding prospective
membership or employment that expresses, directly or indirectly, any
limitation, specification or discrimination as to race, color, religion,
national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical
or mental handicap or serious medical condition, or, if the employer has fifty
or more employees, spousal affiliation, unless based on a bona fide occupational
qualification;
E. an employment agency to refuse to list and
properly classify for employment or refer a person for employment in a known
available job, for which the person is otherwise qualified, because of race,
religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, spousal affiliation, physical or mental handicap or serious medical
condition, unless based on a bona fide occupational qualification, or to comply
with a request from an employer for referral of applicants for employment if
the request indicates either directly or indirectly that the employer
discriminates in employment on the basis of race, religion, color, national
origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal
affiliation, physical or mental handicap or serious medical condition, unless
based on a bona fide occupational qualification;
F. any person in any public accommodation to
make a distinction, directly or indirectly, in offering or refusing to offer
its services, facilities, accommodations or goods to any person because of
race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation,
gender identity, spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap, provided
that the physical or mental handicap is unrelated to a person's ability to
acquire or rent and maintain particular real property or housing accommodation;
G. any person to:
(1) refuse to sell, rent, assign, lease or
sublease or offer for sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease any housing
accommodation or real property to any person or to refuse to negotiate for the
sale, rental, lease, assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or
real property to any person because of race, religion, color, national origin,
ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation or
physical or mental handicap, provided that the physical or mental handicap is
unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular real
property or housing accommodation;
(2) discriminate against any person in the terms,
conditions or privileges of the sale, rental, assignment, lease or sublease of
any housing accommodation or real property or in the provision of facilities or
services in connection therewith because of race, religion, color, national
origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation
or physical or mental handicap, provided that the physical or mental handicap
is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and maintain particular
real property or housing accommodation; or
(3) print, circulate, display or mail or cause to
be printed, circulated, displayed or mailed any statement, advertisement,
publication or sign or use any form of application for the purchase, rental, lease,
assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property or to make
any record or inquiry regarding the prospective purchase, rental, lease,
assignment or sublease of any housing accommodation or real property that
expresses any preference, limitation or discrimination as to race, religion,
color, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity,
spousal affiliation or physical or mental handicap, provided that the physical
or mental handicap is unrelated to a person's ability to acquire or rent and
maintain particular real property or housing accommodation;
H. any person to whom application is made either
for financial assistance for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation,
repair or maintenance of any housing accommodation or real property or for any
type of consumer credit, including financial assistance for the acquisition of
any consumer good as defined by Section 55-9-102 NMSA 1978, to:
(1) consider the race, religion, color, national
origin, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation
or physical or mental handicap of any individual in the granting, withholding,
extending, modifying or renewing or in the fixing of the rates, terms,
conditions or provisions of any financial assistance or in the extension of
services in connection with the request for financial assistance; or
(2) use any form of application for financial
assistance or to make any record or inquiry in connection with applications for
financial assistance that expresses, directly or indirectly, any limitation,
specification or discrimination as to race, religion, color, national origin,
ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, spousal affiliation or
physical or mental handicap;
I. any person or employer to:
(1) aid, abet, incite, compel or coerce the doing
of any unlawful discriminatory practice or to attempt to do so;
(2) engage in any form of threats, reprisal or discrimination
against any person who has opposed any unlawful discriminatory practice or has
filed a complaint, testified or participated in any proceeding under the Human
Rights Act; or
(3) willfully obstruct or prevent any person from
complying with the provisions of the Human Rights Act or to resist, prevent,
impede or interfere with the commission or any of its members, staff or
representatives in the performance of their duties under the Human Rights Act;
or
J. any employer to refuse or fail to accommodate
a person's physical or mental handicap or serious medical condition, unless
such accommodation is unreasonable or an undue hardship."
Section 3. A new section of the Human Rights Act is
enacted to read:
"QUOTAS PROHIBITED.--A
person, employer, employment agency or organization shall not use the
provisions of the Human Rights Act to adopt or implement a quota on the basis
of sexual orientation or gender identity."
Section 4. Section 28-1-9 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1969,
Chapter 196, Section 8, as amended) is amended to read:
"28-1-9. EXEMPTIONS.--Nothing contained in the Human
Rights Act shall:
A. apply to any single-family dwelling sold,
leased, subleased or rented by an owner without the making of any notice,
statement or advertisement with respect to the sale, lease, sublease or rental
of a dwelling unit that indicates any preference, limitation or discrimination
based on race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sex, sexual
orientation or gender identity. This
exemption is subject to these further reservations:
(1) to qualify for the exemption, the seller must
not be an owner of or own or have reserved any interest in more than three
single-family dwellings; and
(2) if the seller does not currently live in the
dwelling or he was not the most recent occupant, the exemption granted in this
section shall only apply to one sale in twenty-four months;
B. bar any religious or denominational
institution or organization that is operated, supervised or controlled by or
that is operated in connection with a religious or denominational organization
from limiting admission to or giving preference to persons of the same religion
or denomination or from making selections of buyers, lessees or tenants as are
calculated by the organization or denomination to promote the religious or
denominational principles for which it is established or maintained, unless
membership in the religious or denominational organization is restricted on
account of race, color, national origin or ancestry;
C. bar any religious or denominational
institution or organization that is operated, supervised or controlled by or
that is operated in connection with a religious or denominational organization
from imposing discriminatory employment or renting practices that are based
upon sexual orientation or gender identity; provided, that the provisions of
the Human Rights Act with respect to sexual orientation and gender identity
shall apply to any other:
(1) for-profit activities of a religious or
denominational institution or religious organization subject to the provisions
of Section 511(a) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended; or
(2) nonprofit activities of a religious or
denominational institution or religious organization subject to the provisions
of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended;
D. apply to rooms or units in dwellings
containing living quarters occupied or intended to be occupied by no more than
four families living independently of each other, if the owner actually
maintains and occupies one of the living quarters as his residence;
E. apply to public restrooms, public showers,
public dressing facilities or sleeping quarters in public institutions, where
the preference or limitation is based on sex;
F. prevent the mandatory retirement of an
employee upon reaching the age of sixty-five years or older, if the employer is
operating under a retirement plan that meets the requirements of Public Law
93-406, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974; and
G. apply to a business that employs fourteen or
fewer full time employees."
Section 5. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the
provisions of this act is July 1, 2003.