Last month, when Sen. Nebraska state’s Machaela Cavanaugh vowed to “burn the legislative session to the ground” over a bill to ban gender therapy for transgender youth, she had a sore throat and was unable to leave the capital because of an ice storm. .
“I’m angry. I am activated. I’m too sick to give a shit,” he said.
The next day, Cavanaugh gave what would quickly become a viral talk promise to use every tool available to “cause pain to this body,” referring to the Nebraska Legislature. It will begin what is now a multi-week filibuster over Legislative Bill 574, a proposal to outlaw gender-affirming treatment, specifically surgery and hormonal therapy, for minors. Legislative rules allow Cavanaugh, a Democrat, to end the 2023 session because of his opposition to LB574, using what has been a bargaining chip for members of the Democratic minority.
And in the end, it almost worked.
After promising to remove references to cross-sex and hormones blocking puberty, the main sponsor of LB574, Republican Kathleen Kauth, was able to secure enough votes there to end the discussion on the bill and advance to the review stage. Cavanaugh, who was optimistic earlier in the week about reaching a deal to kill LB574, seemed to suggest that his filibuster will continue since the bill is still alive and moving forward. Nebraska lawmakers have been unable to pass bills so far this session, resulting in a backlog that has frustrated even members of Cavanaugh’s own party, which has suddenly found itself at the center of the nation’s culture wars.
“People are trying to blame me for today’s result,” Cavanaugh told teammates Thursday. “I can’t control your fingers. I have no control over your button. You either choose or you don’t.
Walker Pickering for HuffPost
The testimony against the bill was very personal. Meghan Hunt, a Democratic lawmaker who has a transgender son, has vowed to never work with her colleagues again. “This bill has hurt me in an unforgivable way. This is a line you don’t cross with me,” she said. “If you cross today, you stay on the other side because you have done irreparable harm, and you will destroy [legislative body] and Nebraskans too. Don’t greet me in the hall. Don’t ask me how my weekend was.”
At some point, tearful lawmakers begged their colleagues to reconsider their vote. “We have people who are directly affected by this bill – children, parents – write us, come talk to us, share their stories. And we are prioritizing the people who this bill does not affect these people,” said Democratic Senator John Fredrickson .
Cavanaugh, a nonprofit project manager and daughter of a former congressman, told HuffPost on Monday that her goal was to create the environment that the legislature has borne in recent weeks. Her critics disagreed with her tactics, calling them threats and bullying. Earlier this month, one of Cavanaugh’s Republican colleagues try to censor he used the term “genocide” to describe LB574, which Cavanaugh believes will increase the already high rates of depression and death among trans youth.
“People are frustrated, but I keep saying this is my goal,” Cavanaugh, 44, said during a video call Monday, sitting in front of a blue and yellow abstract painting framing his face with sweeping squiggly lines. . Cavanaugh, a redhead with black-rimmed glasses, sounds like a Democrat from a GOP-controlled state who finally has some influence. “I want you to be frustrated, I want you to be angry, I want you to be irritated. I want you to stop this because you want to do something else.
Before Thursday’s game, Cavanaugh was optimistic about the chances of keeping LB574 from advancing to a floor vote. “The fight is just beginning, but it will certainly be a moment of celebration and relief, because I think killing this bill will save lives,” he said.
But behind the scenes, Kauth has been working on an amendment to remove the reference to hormonal treatments, which has become a sticking point for some Republicans, Kauth told HuffPost.
“We had some guys who were a little shaky about it, so this strengthened them,” Kauth said. “It’s not all I want, but it gives us a choice.”
Republicans must preserve the entire coalition to reach the threshold of the chamber to overcome the filibuster. Nebraska’s legislature is unique: The state has a single, theoretically nonpartisan chamber — Unicameral — with 49 senators who are often caucused by congressional district rather than political party. Members of parliament only serve for two to three months a year.
In this deeply red state, Republicans predictably outnumber Democrats, 2 to 1, in the legislature, but there are moments of cross-party creep. LB547 was able to advance only because it had the support of one Democrat in addition to all 32 Republicans.
Battles over gender-affirming surgeries for minors, as well as a proposed six-week abortion ban, signal a new partisan direction for what has traditionally been the nation’s least polarized legislature. The Nebraska Legislature is simultaneously considering a bill from Kauth that would ban transgender public school students from using bathrooms and playing on sports teams that don’t match the gender they were assigned at birth. Last year, the room took up the bills in rural hospitals, township libraries and seeds.
“Until this year, we’ve never faced an anti-gay bill, or a bathroom bill, or a bill banning gender-affirming treatment,” Hunt told The Washington Post. “The Legislature never debated a bill to ban abortion until last year.”
Cavanaugh believes that sponsors of LB574 are taking their cues from national figures who are creating a dangerous frenzy over transgender issues. Donald Trump, running again for the GOP presidential nomination, has vowed to punish doctors who provide gender therapy to minors. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a possible Republican presidential candidate, has taken steps to crack down on the same treatment after signing a bill aimed at preventing transgender girls from playing in girls’ sports teams.
“I don’t believe that the Republicans that I serve and the Republicans in the state want to victimize trans youth. I feel like people are being drawn into this conversation, and I don’t know what’s driving it,” said Cavanaugh, who said Republicans are using bad and misleading data. to dispute the efficacy and safety of gender therapy.
Walker Pickering for HuffPost
Kauth told HuffPost that the goal is to prevent minors from making body-altering decisions that they may regret in the future, a common reason for gender therapy bans. In general, studies have found that only 1% of people who have transitioned end up regretting the decision. And most lives are happier, according to a new study from The Washington Post.
Kauth, who runs a mediation firm outside of her job in the legislature, described a conversation with a transgender girl who confirmed that minors “can’t evaluate” this life-changing decision, even if it requires parental consent.
“I spoke to a young person who – she was a girl – she and her mother came to talk, and when I talked about the level of desistance and the fact that this is not what she wants in the long term, she said, ‘No problem, after I get the surgery, if I don’t like it, I’ll just go back.’ I really have to say, ‘If you take something out, you can’t put it back.’ This is a 16-year-old, so for this person, they don’t know the ins and outs of the operation and the things that you have to do for the rest of your life.
Kauth wants parents to know they have options. “When your child is suffering, it’s a chemical reaction. You want to do something to make them feel better,” she said. “Parents who are in that situation, they’re going to do whatever it takes. And if you have a doctor who says this is the only way – it’s not the only way.
Cavanaugh did not respond to a follow-up Thursday about next steps. But if previous interviews are any indication, Cavanaugh’s work isn’t done yet. He described the filibuster as a turning point for members of the legislative minority who had been consistently silenced. Cavanaugh is already in his second term but has failed to achieve priorities on child welfare, including free meals for students and services for incarcerated mothers.
If you give the minority something, you won’t lose anything, he said.
“People think, ‘You’re not going to get your stuff.’ I won’t get my things. ever. No one will let me bill them. It’s a problem of their own making. They decided to take everything so I don’t have a reason to fight. And they succeeded. They did a good job very.