Nebraska senator and mother of trans child vows to filibuster after vote in ... trends now
Nebraska senators have vowed to resume their filibuster of the Legislature, blocking all bills from being passed in response to a vote to advance a transgender bill.
The bill, LB 574, was approved on Thursday after three contentious days of debate. It now needs two further debates before it will be signed into law.
Dubbed 'Let Them Grow', the bill would forbid gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for those under 19.
In response to the bill's progress, Senator Megan Hunt - who on Wednesday revealed during the debate that her 12-year-old son is transgender - said she would filibuster all future bills.
Her colleague Machaela Cavanaugh filibustered for three weeks to prevent the bill being voted on in the first place, and only relented when she decided to allow a vote so they could see who 'has blood on their hands'.
Megan Hunt, a senator representing Omaha, who is the mother to a 12-year-old transgender son, on Thursday promised to filibuster all bills in protest at the progress of LB 574
Hunt said she would resume the filibuster. The Legislative session runs until June 9, meaning Nebraskan politicians face the prospect of weeks of unrest.
'We have made it clear that this is the line in the sand. People have said, what if we go after your bills? What if we put a bunch of bills introduced by progressives on the agenda are you going to filibuster those too? Yes, because we are not like you,' she said.
'No one in the world holds a grudge like me.
'And no one in the world cares less about being petty than me. I don't care - I don't like you.'
Cavanaugh tweeted after the vote: 'I will not give up on Nebraska children.
'Failure isn't an option because, if I fail, I'm failing children, and I'm not going to fail children. Are you with me? #DontLegislateHate'
The debate generated intense emotions.
On Thursday, before the vote, Senator Jen Day made a passionate plea for her fellow politicians to strike the bill down.
'Feel it in your heart, I know it is there,' she said.
'Look into the eyes of these kids, and these parents who are hurting at the very sight of this conversation. Please, stop it!'
Both Day and Hunt have vowed to continue the filibuster.
Jana Hughes, a senator representing Seward, said that she voted to end the debate not because she supports the bill in its current form, but because she wants to move on with congressional business.
'I came here to do property tax relief and broadband,' she told the Nebraska Examiner.
Senator Kathleen Kauth, who introduced the bill in January, accused her opponents of seeking the spotlight.
Kathleen Kauth, who introduced the legislature, accused her opponents of grandstanding
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Machaela Cavanaugh filibustered the bill for three weeks, bringing routine business to a halt
Cavanaugh and her husband Nick Brotzel are seen on the campaign trail
'We knew it would be very, very difficult, but the rhetoric seems a little intense,' said Kauth.
'To accuse those supporting this bill of promoting genocide, being Nazis, that seems a bit much.'
Kauth accused her opponents of 'obnoxious hyperbole to get a lot of national media attention'.
She said the bill was not introduced 'in a vacuum', pointing out there were 87 bills relating to transgender issues in state legislatures at present.
Outside the legislature on Wednesday a crowd of opponents
