Only three months into the new state legislative season, New Mexico has terrific news to share: The cultural crossroads that mixes pueblos and high-tech companies is becoming the 14th state to ban job discrimination based on sexual orientation.

The desert is finally blooming for gay New Mexicans, who’ve sowed seeds for a dozen years.

Last November, they helped elect a gay-friendly governor, Democrat Bill Richardson.

“My advice to activists in other states,” says Gloria Nieto of the Coalition for Equality in New Mexico, “is don’t show up at the last minute and say, ‘We want this.’ We showed up early to raise money for candidates and to show we were part of the team.”

To the delight of spectators with fluorescent labels reading “Another New Mexican for Civil Rights,” both the state House and Senate recently passed the breakthrough bill.

The Legislature also passed a hate crimes bill to enhance penalties of assailants who target a victim because of race, religion, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Richardson has pledged to sign it as well as the discrimination legislation (which covers employment, housing, public accommodations and credit, and applies to gender identity as well as sexual orientation).

New Mexico’s victories come as many legislatures are turning their attention to those of us who are gay.

Much of that activity is positive: Seven states are weighing bills to give gay couples the state-level rights and responsibilities of marriage, without using the word “marriage.”

However, North Dakota, Texas and Oklahoma are considering bills intended to bar gay people from becoming adoptive or foster parents.

“At the state level, gay and lesbian families are being talked about like never before,” notes Seth Kilbourn, national field director of the gay Human Rights Campaign.

“Gay groups are bringing forward gay men and lesbians to tell their compelling stories. That is really having an effect on lawmakers.”

In California, Lydia Ramos recently told lawmakers about the nightmare she endured in a custody battle with relatives of her daughter’s biological mother, Lydia’s partner, who had died in a car accident.

California is considering a bill to ensure that a gay couple’s child cannot be taken away from the surviving parent because of a tragedy.

The measure would build on the statewide domestic partnership registry California created in 1999 … expanding it to give gay couples comparable rights to our married counterparts.

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