University of New Mexico sued over viewpoint discrimination of conservatives

Two conservative groups are suing the University of New Mexico (UNM) for violating their constitutional rights by charging huge security fees for hosting events with conservative speakers, including women’s sports advocate Riley Gaines. 

Gaines was invited to speak at the university in October by a chapter of Turning Point USA (TPUSA) students, joined in the suit by the Leadership Institute. 

However, UNM officials refused to sanction the event unless the TPUSA chapter paid thousands of dollars in security fees. 

“This is entirely unconstitutional [and] viewpoint discrimination,” Gaines says of the practice. 

According to the lawsuit, filed Tuesday by the Southeastern Legal Foundation, UNM can charge security fees for events based on various factors, such as the number of attendees, the time and location of the event and whether alcohol or other goods will be available for purchase.  

University officials initially told TPUSA that security for the scheduled Gaines event would cost $10,000 – and the student group was on the hook to pay for it.  

And that wasn’t the first time UNM has discriminated against conservative speakers. 

Early last year, a pro-life speaker was also charged over $8,000 in security fees to speak at UNM.  

However, an event for “Drag Bingo with Roxxxy Andrews,” a former contestant of RuPaul’s Drag Race and political activist, did not produce any such charges from the university. 

“UNM officials thus engaged in viewpoint and content discrimination when they required Plaintiffs to bear the cost of security based on the officials’ subjective assessment of the crowd’s potential reaction to Ms. Gaines’ speech,” the lawsuit states.  

The suit further alleges UNM violated the First and Fourteenth Amendments, as well as the New Mexico state constitution, by “chill[ing] Plaintiffs’ speech because they will refrain from hosting similar speaking events rather than being forced to pay $5,000 to $10,000 in security fees each time.” 

The plaintiffs’ legal representation also urged UNM to reduce the “excessive and unreasonable” security fees and create less biased criteria for future events.