The ACLU of New Mexico is pleased to announce the 2013 Bill of Rights Celebration Awards, the annual recognition of the New Mexicans who have made significant contributions to the cause of liberty in our state.
The ACLU of New Mexico will present the awards on Friday, November 22 at the 2013 Bill of Rights Celebration at the Sheraton Uptown Hotel in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Tickets can be purchased online through the ACLU of New Mexico website.

Cooperating Attorney of the Year

Every year the ACLU of New Mexico recognizes a stand out attorney who has donated their time and talent towards a legal case of great importance to the future of civil liberties in New Mexico. This year, the ACLU of New Mexico recognizes Molly Schmidt-Nowara.

Molly Schmidt-Nowara 
Born and raised in Albuquerque, Molly graduated magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 2001. She is a partner at the law firm of Garcia Ives Nowara and is a litigator with a focus on criminal defense, civil rights litigation, and administrative law. Molly has been listed as a Rising Star in Super Lawyers since 2012. Molly has been a card-carrying member of the American Civil Liberties Union since 1991, when she was 16 years old.
Molly receives this year's Cooperating Attorney of the Year Award for her work defending an Albuquerque clinic against frivolous and malicious medical complaints filed by the anti-abortion extremist organization Operation Rescue. Schmidt-Nowara successfully proved in hearings before the New Mexico State Medical Board that the doctor in question treated her patients with the highest standard of medical care.
Operation Rescue has used these types of targeted medical complaints against abortion providers in other states to harass and intimidate doctors out of the field. Her strong defense blunted this tactic here in New Mexico and helped ensure that women in our state continue to have access to safe and legal abortion.

Guardian of Liberty Awards

The ACLU of New Mexico Guardian of Liberty Awards are presented to members of the New Mexico community who perform outstanding service towards the protection and extension of basic freedoms in our state. This year, the ACLU of New Mexico is proud to present Guardian of Liberty Award to the five cooperating attorneys who helped litigate Griego v. Oliver, the historic legal case that seeks to win the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in New Mexico.

Lynn E. Mostoller
Lynn has practiced law since 2004 and has been an associate attorney with the Sutin Thayer & Browne law firm since 2010, practicing primarily in the areas of commercial litigation, employment law, and appeals.
 
 

Peter S. Kierst
Peter S. Kierst is with Sutin, Thayer and Browne PA, is a Senior Lecturer in Constitutional Law at UNM, and has been practicing law for 29 years.
 
 
 

N. Lynn Perls
N. Lynn Perls is a board certified family law specialist, working on behalf of LGBT New Mexicans for over 24 years. What makes a family, who is counted as family for legal purposes, and how to strengthen all of our families in all forms and functions is one of the most exciting and rapidly-evolving areas of Lynn's legal practice in the new millennium. The Law Office of Lynn Perls is a boutique law firm in Albuquerque, New Mexico providing services for family creation, protection and dissolution.
 

Maureen Sanders
Maureen has been involved with the ACLU of New Mexico since the mid-1980s as a legal panel member and a cooperating attorney. She is honored to have been involved in the marriage litigation efforts over the last several years and was honored to represent our wonderful clients.
 
 

J. Kate Girard
After careers as an Olympic-level swimmer, AmeriCorps member, Peace Corps volunteer, teacher and community organizer, Kate is honored that as an attorney, she gets to work with a growing community of loving, ferocious litigators who dare to fight for and to create justice for us all. Because of this community, Kate is now legally married to Shannon McKigney, her spouse of 14 years, and mom to life’s two greatest gifts - Bridget and Patrick. 

Jennifer Martin Neuman-Roper, plaintiff in the New Mexico marriage equality case Griego v. Oliver, passed away on Friday, November  8 after battling cancer. She is survived by her wife Angelique Neuman-Roper and sons Jayms, David, and Damion.

Jen and Angelique joined Griego v. Oliver earlier this year in August, and played a pivotal role in struggle to win the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in New Mexico. Because Jen suffered from Stage 4 brain cancer, the couple of more than 20 years asked the court to expedite the freedom to marry case so they could marry before Jen's illness rendered her incapable. On August 26, the New Mexico Second District court ruled that Bernalillo and Santa Fe Counties must immediately begin allowing same-sex couples to marry. As of this wriring, eight counties in New Mexico issue marriage licenses to same sex couples andGriego v. Oliver  is currently on appeal to the New Mexico State Supreme Court. The court is expected to deliver a ruling soon.

Jen and Angelique were married in an impromptu ceremony in Santa Fe in the lobby of the Christus St. Vincent Cancer Center, the same day that the County of Santa Fe began issuing licenses. Upon her passing, Jen was the first person to be issued a New Mexico certificate of death that acknowledged a surviving same-sex spouse.

"We are deeply saddened by the news of Jen Neuman-Roper's passing," said ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson. "She was a beloved member of her community, a loving mother and wife, and a trail blazer for marriage equality in New Mexico. Her participation in the New Mexico freedom to marry case helped open the door for thousands of  same-sex couples to celebrate their love and commitment in marriage here in our state. She will be missed."

Read Jennifer Neuman-Roper's obituary here.

Join the ACLU of New Mexico as we celebrate another incredible year of defending basic freedoms in New Mexico. Enjoy dinner, drinks, and live music as we gather with to honor the men and women who have helped protect and extend our civil liberties.
Friday, November 22 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Sheraton Uptown Hotel, Main Ballroom 2600 Louisiana Blvd. NE Albuquerque, NM 87110
Tickets $125 per person. Tables available for purchase.

Buy Tickets Now

Contact Director of Philanthropy Ernest Rodriguez-Naaz for more information at (505) 266-5915 x1001 or [email protected].

Featuring Journalist Peter Maass

Peter Maass has worked for the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, the New York Times Magazine and many other prominent journals and magazines. Maass has reported on numerous conflicts, including Bosnia and the second U.S. war in Iraq, and in recent years has distinguished himself one of the nation’s foremost watchdogs of our sprawling surveillance state. He recently published an exclusive interview with Edward Snowden, the National Security Agency whistleblower who exposed the mass surveillance programs used to spy on innocent Americans.
 
Maass will speak on the United States surveillance state, his recent interview with Snowden, and the future of privacy rights in the digital era.