By Barry Massey

A.P. writer

SANTA FE—A proposal to allow for domestic partnerships was shelved by a New Mexico Senate committee Feb. 9, a move that likely dooms the measure with time running out in the legislative session.

Gov. Bill Richardson advocated the proposal as part of his legislative agenda but his support wasn’t enough to overcome opposition from social conservatives who worry the measure is similar to recognizing gay marriage.

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 6-4 to table the legislation. Two Democrats joined the panel’s four Republicans in blocking the measure.

The legislation would give certain unmarried couples—gay or straight—the same rights and benefits as married couples. The New Mexico House narrowly approved the bill last month.

Ten other states and the District of Columbia recognize domestic partnerships.

Lawmakers often table a bill to effectively kill it without directly rejecting the measure. The bill remains alive but is bottled in the committee, and the legislature’s 30-day session ends Feb. 14.

The bill could be procedurally revived but that would be difficult without a change of vote by some committee members or an unlikely agreement to allow it to bypass the committee and be debated by the 42-member Senate.

“I am extremely disappointed with the senate committee’s action,” Richardson said in a statement. “This is a matter of civil rights and equity for all New Mexicans. I urge the senate to follow the courageous action by the house and allow a full vote on this issue.”

Supporters said they weren’t giving up, despite the setback.

“It’s not over until the session is over,” said Linda Siegle, a lobbyist for Equality New Mexico. “It’s not over until the bill passes. We’ll be back next year and every year. It took 12 years to get the Human Rights Act.”

New Mexico’s Human Rights Act was changed in 2003 to ban discrimination in housing, employment and other areas based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The legislature changed it again in 2004 to correct a mistake in the 2003 version.

Domestic partnership supporters packed the senate’s public gallery to watch the committee.

The legislation is “about taking care of each other,” Rep. Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat, told senators.

“It’s a bill about making sure that the government doesn’t tell you who you can love and who you can spend your life with,” said Stewart, the bill’s sponsor.

Under the legislation, domestic partners would have the right to take family medical leave to care for a partner who is ill, the authority to make end-of-life decisions for a partner, property rights in a partner’s pension and inheritance rights.

Domestic partners also would have the same responsibilities as married couples in child custody and visitation issues and paying child support.

Sen. Lidio Rainaldi, a Gallup Democrat, voted to table the measure.

“You want the same rights of a domestic partner to be adjudicated by the district court as the same rights as if married between a man and a woman. This is not saying it is a partnership. This is dealing with marriage,” said Rainaldi.