SANTA FE, N.M. -
The state Supreme Court has ruled same-sex marriage to be legal in New Mexico.

The court deemed the term "civil marriage" to mean the voluntary union of two persons.

It ruled that all rights, protections and responsibilities that result from the marital relationship shall apply equally to both same-gender and opposite-gender married couples.

Under any of the New Mexico statutes, rules, regulations or common law, whenever a reference is made to marriage, husband, wife, spouse, family, immediate family, dependent, next of kin, widow, widower or any other word, which, in context, denotes a marital relationship, the same shall apply to same-gender couples who have chosen to marry.
KOAT

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W I N T E R · T R E K · T R I V I A · E V E N T !
The winter holidays are upon us, and in keeping with the excitement and festivities of the winter season, the Fleet Resources Department is proud to announce another upcoming Trek Trivia event! Those of you who have joined us in the past, know that our trivia events have been a unique and fun event that will put your Trek knowledge to the test, with fantastic prizes had for all!

With each trivia event that we've run, the event has gradually evolved into a more inclusive and fun experience, and this Winter Trivia Event will be no exception! Traditionally, we've hosted these events in in-game chat, allowing us all to gather at a common location and to mingle during the event. This will not change, and questions and answers will continue to be done in our in-game SFEvents chat channel, however, for the first time since the inception of our trivia events, there will be a non-mandatory TeamSpeak component, for those of you who would like to indulge a more in-depth trivia experience! While I won't go into details or spoil the surprise, I guarantee to those of you who prefer to participate strictly through in-game chat, that those participants choosing to join us on TeamSpeak for the event, will not receive any competitive advantage. With that said, we strongly encourage everyone to consider joining us on TS! Be sure to visit the Welcome Center for details on how to connect to our TeamSpeak server, if you haven't already! Speaking won't be required!

Check out the links to some examples of our past Trek Trivia events! Some example trivia questions are included in these threads, so you can get a feel for what your Trek skills will be up against!

1. 3rd Trek Trivia Event (January, 2013)
2. 2nd Trek Trivia Event (December, 2012)
3. 1st Trek Trivia Event (November, 2012)

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W H E N · & · W H E R E ?


The event will take place in the lowest populated instance of Q's Wonderland, on Saturday, January 4th, 2013, at 5:00 PM Pacific time (8:00 PM Eastern), on the veranda overlooking the skating rink, so mark your calendars!

Follow this time zone conversion link to see the event time at your location!

As always, you need simply join us in the SFEvents in-game chat channel to participate, and we'll be utilizing the Live Events channel on TeamSpeak.

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P R I Z E S !

TIER I PRIZES
The top three scoring players will receive their choice of the following prizes, with the highest scoring player receiving first choice and so on:

Suliban cell ship:
A flyable in-game ship, much like the Tuffli trade freighter or Ferengi Marauder, which provides it's Captain with access to in-game amenities, including: bank, exchange, mail, crafting, commodity vendor and unique duty officer assignments.

2,500 Zen:
A game-card access code of a $25.00 value, providing you with a total of 2,500 Zen for use in the in-game Zen store. Alternatively, you can convert all or a portion of this Zen to dilithium, through the dilithium exchange. At average market value, this would convert into approximately 325,000 dilithium.

Star Trek TNG Pinball:
A gifted version of the Pinball Arcade Season 1 bundle for PC via the Steam gaming platform, a $30.00 value. Pinball Arcade is the ultimate pinball emulator and this package includes access to 21 of the greatest pinball tables of all time, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, which features the voice talents of Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Michael Dorn, Brent Spiner, Gates McFadden, Marina Sirtis and John De Lancie, among others! This epic recreation of the original pinball machine is truly a fantastic gaming experience! (Alternatively, the winner of this prize may choose to accept a 2,500 Zen card in lieu of this gift, based on their preference).

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F I N A L · S T A N D I N G S ![attachment=1859]insurrectionhd0371.png[/attachment]Click image to enlarge!

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Well, crap. I was going to post a YouTube recording of the Holiday Special, because I dared to watch it a couple of years ago and it is truly bad, but, because of "copyright violation", it has all changed. I can now get the full video--but without sound OR subtitles. Bah.

Rrrrrrwwwaaarrr *wookiee roar*

And to you, good sir!

May your journeys be snowflake covered and the Force be with you!

I have no idea what that is, but o my lord that is funny. :woohoo:

Wow... I laughed so hard. This was so me the whole time. Remember this Sam? :woohoo:

NSFW due to strong language.

don't forget we also have people from a wide variety of cultures here and what is an offensive term in one might be a term of endearment in another, so if someone says something in fleet chat that offends you it's usually useful to PM them and discuss what they said and why they said it.

As far as transphobic etc language in fleet chat, that is inexcusable. Send the person a polite PM explaining why their language is problematic, and if they persist, then go to a fleet captain or other of our personnel. I would also call up on our fleet captains etc to more closely monitor this type of language. Together we can fight oppression.

I don't know about STO, but the more insidious comments ("so gay" / "ghey" / etc.) do piss me off. The more ummm colorful terms don't much bother me. I guess folks who use such language know it's wrong but they think they can get away with being somewhat less profane as if it's somehow less hateful/offensive. Or is it just me?

As soon as I log on I click on my chat tab that has only Fleet, Stonewall, Tells, Pride and Team in it. If I'm in a 20 man alert or something I'll click back to the tab that has zone chat. Cuts down on the stupidity you hear in general chat.

I play this to have fun and be around others like that and don't feel like dealing with those that have the maturity level of a 2yr old.

I applaud you for reporting/informing those people that it is not acceptable behavior but you will find yourself exhausted if you do it all the time.

no kidding about comments about trans people going unnoticed, even in the fleet chat. a lot of the time im just like, really? "its a trap" and jokes about "ladyboys"? come on. its like you can't even avoid that kind of awfulness even in lgbt spaces.

to be honest, the best thing you can do is just to disable zone chat. if you feel like keeping it up just in case you need to talk to someone near you, you can keep it in a separate tab (mine is labeled "shit talk" for obvious reasons). if you feel strong enough to tell people to stop and possibly face the overwhelm of dumb comments directed at you, or even just to report them, that's a brave thing to do, but there is a lot of people like that and you might get tired after a while.

i dont honestly know how good sto management is about reprimanding people. i figure that if they are busy enough to forget to put a ceiling on the side room of the fleet spire they're probably too busy to hand out mutes or bans to every dudebro who thinks this stuff is the height of comedy.

Yes I do mean See not say :/

It is sad to see, that in a gaming world based off of a great show that celebrates diversity in its own way, has people like that in the general community. I've never understood how those individuals are able to call themselves a Star Trek fan :unsure:

With that said however, the best thing is to ignore them and to not take it personally. I've also seen this in the general STO community and usually acknowledging and/or challenging their comments only exacerbates the situation. We've come a long way since the old days and will continue to move forward with or without their support.

I feel that those at PWE do take discrimination seriously, however. In June, Stonewall was featured in the STO Guest Blog to celebrate diversity. It was written by our very own fearless (and handsome!) leader, Nick. By allowing us to have this guest blog spot is something I view as a show of support. We also have a fleet member here who works as their community manager, so we do have people on their staff who are truly able to understand our struggles, which is always good! :) Granted, not every instance of discrimination can be caught in-game, but we can do our part by making them known with reporting any issues we may have.

Quote by LesleyA

If I say any homophobic or otherwise offensive comments in chat I just hit report and go about my business as before. They soon shut up as the Ban hammer hits them rather quickly.

See, not say, eh?

If I say any homophobic or otherwise offensive comments in chat I just hit report and go about my business as before. They soon shut up as the Ban hammer hits them rather quickly.

I'm sorry to hear you're experiencing such ugliness first-hand. I personally don't may much attention to general chat in most zones and often just turn it off. If I come across something like like in the general channel I'll usually do my best to report it. Any game will inevitably have Trolls and those Trolls tend to equate homosexuality or anything related to as some sort of weakness in the gaming world which is completely illogical. I can only conclude that these people have deficient cognitive processes stemming from some sort of emotional imbalance or deep-seeded personal issues. I learned a while back not to try and argue with people who are stupid or crazy, it's just a waste of energy. That's not to say ou can't challenge them to a PvP match and wipe the floor with them though. ;)

oooh I cannot wait! (dusts off the white tux)

Hey everyone,

I've been noticing a lot more of anti gay comments flooding star trek online. I know that people get caught up in a game and sometimes say stupid things, but I for one am getting tired of words like fag, faggot, dyke, and many more comments being made to disparage those of us who are gay.

It seems like STO management doesn't take this serious. If someone was going around calling someone the N word, and doing it in another language so that the filters didn't pick it up, I have to believe someone would get a warning, but the hateful comments to those who are gay, bi, and transgender seem to go unnoticed.

Has anyone else noticed this?