Bill Richardson is back in New Mexico and has put civil unions on the legislative agenda  again.

The man who could talk rogue nations into releasing hostages was held hostage last year by four New Mexico Democrats who joined conservative Republicans to vote against providing minimum legal rights to gay men and lesbians in the State.  

Governor Richardson, a former Congressman, Secretary of Energy and United States Ambassador to the United Nations,  has thirty days to prove to New Mexicans that he is the negotiator he claimed to be as he ran for President of the United States.

Unfortunately, his lengthy resume did not resonate with voters in Iowa and New Hampshire and some here wonder if Richardson thinks globally but can't act locally.

It is known that the good Governor is opposed to marriage equality and under pressure from the right wingers here - and their outside agitators  - he would signal that New Mexico was ready for DOMA, or the Defense of Marriage Act.  DOMA was an unnecessary piece of legislation  crafted by a long list of philandering men and signed into law in 1996 by the philandering Bill Clinton.

Indeed, given what we now know it would seem that any legislator vehemently opposed to civil unions is hiding something in his personal life.

But I digress.

One hopes that Mr. Richardson -- with his Presidential aspirations dashed and all pandering left in a heap of political signs on soggy lawns and street corners throughout Iowa and New Hampshire -- will do the right thing and make certain that all New Mexicans have the opportunity to live equally under the law.

Vermont, Conneticut, New Hampshire, and New Jersey have civil unions.   The Governor of New York plans to support  legislation to establish civil unions there.  Massachusetts has marriage equality.  I know, I know -- east coast liberals, right?

Wrong.  Good people everywhere made good decisions.  It is time for the good people of New Mexico to do the same.