Yeah, I grew up here but have lived in OK, CO and AZ, and coming back to NM was like a breath of fresh air. There's a lot of craziness here, but it manifests in other ways, not so much by officially denying people basic human rights.

Yeah, I've seen a lot of dead bodies in various conditions over the years, and sometimes they don't even really look human, much less be recognizable as individuals. And this is especially true since they identified her from pictures of the body, which further distort the appearance, plus they were probably primed to…

I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that setting a legal precedent is important. AFAIK, there hasn't been a case like this that has made it through the court system, which means that the law protecting gay and lesbian New Mexicans from discrimination hasn't really been tested. Although our courts require a…

I don't think they want that, but they also don't want businesses to be able to legally discriminate against people. It isn't about the individual wedding so much as the photographer openly discriminating against a protected (in NM) class of people.

No, they're not compelled to use the photographer because they won this case (I believe the couple married long before this finished making it's way through the court system anyway). Think of it like if a woman was fired for rejecting her boss's advances and sued. She wouldn't be rehired, she'd be awarded damages for…

You can't refuse service to people because of protected statuses. It's the same reason business can't refuse to serve Black people because of their race.

For what it's worth, I live in New Mexico and that shit doesn't fly here either. Despite being a largely Catholic state and having a Republican governor at the moment, our government strongly leans pro-choice. Our state medicaid and other healthcare programs even cover abortions and contraception (not sure about Plan…

I agree with you on a personal level and wouldn't hire someone with those beliefs if I was having a gay wedding (well, I wouldn't patronize their business regardless because I try to avoid giving money to bigots, but you know what I mean), but on a societal level it's important. Denying access to commercial services…

I kind of disagree. I mean, I'm not denying that wealth makes it much easier (like pretty much everything), but wealthy mothers in the US still face the unreasonable expectations and criticisms that the author is talking about here. They're still expected to go right back into work if they have a career, or get right…

In the US, if you know the person is underage, you can absolutely still get in trouble for photographing them engaging in sex acts in public. If you later find out they're underage and keep or forward those images around anyway, you can get in trouble for possessing or distributing child porn even if the act was…

I totally agree. I think it's a little unfair to place the blame personally on Kerman as some do, but at the same time it is incredibly problematic that this story is only being told because she's a well-off white woman, and there's nothing wrong with talking about that. In fact, we should be! Because the tragedy is…

It kind of makes me think even less of Thicke, if that's possible after his "it's fun to degrade women!" bullshit. There are some obvious similarities between the songs, and Gaye's family wasn't suing him, just pointing that out. Making filing a preemptive suit makes sense legally (though I don't really know how it…

I would guess it is some sort of brain trauma. A coma like that isn't uncommon when that happens; it's why people who have suffered a serious concussion aren't supposed to sleep more than half an hour at a time and need someone there to keep an eye on them and make sure they wake up.

Commission is not the same as tipping someone, since it's a flat rate based on the amount sold. And I'm not at all sure how you're comparing disputing a bill to tipping...yeah, it can effect the money taken home, but that's more along the lines of those other methods of handling bad service that I was talking about…

Oh, that makes sense. I had some qualms about the specific way this restaurant handles that, too. I thought you were speaking more generally, but that's probably because I worked at a restaurant that used the "service charge" model but paid us a very good hourly wage rather than splitting it up like Porter's…

Can I ask why you'd rather have more expensive dishes rather than a service charge? It seems like pretty much the same thing to me.

I really don't understand this mentality. Would you prefer that all service jobs were tip-based? Otherwise, why is restaurant service different? I mean, there are other ways to handle bad service—complain to the management, or simply not shop there again, like you would if you were at a McDonald's or grocery store…

That is true, but he does say to do the opposite of what she says unless she says no which seems...uncomfortable at best. What if she doesn't actually say no but says/does other things that should make it clear she doesn't want it?

I got Mirena (the hormonal one) without having kids. It was difficult to insert and it hurt very badly while they were doing it, but once it was in I just had some cramping for a few days (less than I got normally for periods, but I did have bad menstrual cramps...if yours tend to be mild it might be worse). They…

How old is your aunt? IUDs have come a long way. In the '70s they were notorious for failing and I too know a bunch of IUD babies from that time period, but the newer ones are the most effective form of birth control out there aside from sterilization.