Nebraska state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh is engaging in a filibuster to prevent her colleagues from passing a bill that would restrict certain transition-related health care for minors. Cavanaugh is determined to block a bill that would bar minors from receiving gender-affirming health care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery.
The proposed measure would also prohibit any institution or provider of such care to minors from receiving state funding. Cavanaugh has pledged to filibuster every bill her state Senate colleagues introduce if they support the measure that would limit transgender health care. She argues that the proposed bill targets vulnerable trans youth and is discriminatory. Cavanaugh’s filibuster is an attempt to make her colleagues choose between bills that target transgender health care and other legislation. With the Legislature having only around 518 hours left to pass no more than 42 bills, she said that this is not many, particularly because the Senate also has to pass a budget.
Cavanaugh hopes that her filibuster will force her colleagues to decide whether their job is to legislate hate or to work on issues like tax cuts and the economy. Governors in six states – Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah – have signed legislation that restricts transition-related care for minors, though federal judges have blocked bans in Alabama and Arkansas from taking effect. Similar legislation is awaiting signatures from governors in Mississippi and Tennessee.
So far this year, lawmakers in at least 24 states, including Nebraska, have introduced legislation that would limit transition-related care for minors.