Global Courant 2023-04-14 02:20:23
Nebraska lawmakers began a second round of debate Thursday on a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors.
That effort has largely paralyzed the work of the body. While lawmakers have managed to push forward some bills, no law had yet been passed by Wednesday, the 60th day of this year’s 90-day session.
Lawmakers had already roughed up the debate on the trans health bill after a controversial confrontation a day earlier over a law that would heavily restrict access to abortion in the state. That bill, which passed by narrow margins despite strong objections from opponents, would ban abortion as soon as heart activity can be detected in an embryo, which is usually around week six of pregnancy and before most women know they are pregnant.
DEMOCRATS PICK UP AS NEBRASKA LAW BANS TRANS PROCEDURES FOR MINORS PROGRESS
The transgender health proposal has proved even more polemical. It progressed from the first eight-hour round of debate last month after supporters and opponents angrily accused each other of a lack of collegiality.
Even before the debate started on Thursday, opponents indicated that the deliberations would become heated. Omaha Senator Megan Hunt lashed out at supporters of the transhealth ban on Wednesday night. For Hunt, the debate is deeply personal; she told on the floor of the legislature during the first round of debate on the bill that her teenage son is transgender. She has since declined to speak to lawmakers who voted in favor of the proposal.
“Unless the bill is killed, every bill will be filibusted and we’ll be talking about LB574 every day on every bill,” Hunt said.
Opponents have noted that Nebraska’s bill is nearly identical to an Arkansas bill that has been temporarily blocked by federal courts as a judge considers whether that state’s ban should be considered unconstitutional.
Omaha Senator Machaela Cavanaugh laid bare the argument that such a ban is unconstitutional, noting that it targets a protected class of people. The bill does not prevent teenage girls who identify as girls from having breast reductions, she said. Nor does it stop teenage boys who identify as boys from having surgery to remove excess breast tissue.
“You don’t want to ban top surgery for minors. You want to ban top surgery for transgender minors,” Cavanaugh said. “That’s targeting a group of people because of how they identify. And that’s discrimination.”
Senator Kathleen Kauth of the conservative state of Nebraska, whose bill would ban hormone therapies and sex reassignment procedures for minors, is currently the subject of intense debate in the Cornhusker state legislatures. (AP Photo/Margery Beck, File)
The rhetoric around the bill turned heated at times again Thursday, with some conservative lawmakers suggesting that gender-affirming treatments have led to an increase in suicide and suicidal ideation among transgender teens.
Senator John Lowe of Kearney echoed a common refrain among conservative activists and politicians, saying that children in schools were “groomed” to develop gender dysphoria. Gering’s Senator Brian Hardin said those urging lawmakers to follow the accepted science on transgender healthcare “are the same people who chanted ‘follow the science’ on COVID-19 until it was no longer fashionable to do so about a year ago .”
Hunt fired back at those claims.
“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said. “By supporting this bill, you are telling these children that you are rejecting them. And that is leading to suicidal thoughts in children.
“You throw gasoline on the fire.”
The bill from Republican Senator Kathleen Kauth, a freshman lawmaker in the officially nonpartisan legislature, would ban gender-affirming therapies such as hormone treatments, puberty blockers and sex reassignment surgery for those 18 and under. Kauth has maintained that the bill is intended to protect children from undergoing gender-affirming treatments that they may later regret as adults.
She read from a series of testimonials and reports from doctors and activists who have questioned the safety of gender-affirming treatments. The American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Psychiatric Association all support gender-affirming youth care. Kauth insinuated Thursday that greed could boost that support, saying “drugs are business too.”
“There isn’t enough research to justify this kind of risk,” Kauth said. “My fear is that people will look back 10 years from now and say, ‘Where were the adults to say, take it easy?'”
NEBRASKA DEMOCRAT 3 WEEKS IN FILIBUSTER OVER PROPOSED YOUTH GENDER GENDER BAN
The bill was the genesis of a nearly three-week, uninterrupted filibuster borne by Cavanaugh, who in late February fulfilled her vow to filibuster every bill before the legislature — even the ones she supported — declaring that she would “hold the session until burn to the ground.” about this bill.” When the bill was introduced last month, several other lawmakers joined the filibuster.
The Nebraska bill, along with another bill prohibiting transgender people from using bathrooms and locker rooms or playing on sports teams that don’t match the gender listed on their birth certificates, are among about 150 bills targeting transgender people that are entered into state legislatures this year.
At least 13 states have now enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming care for minors: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, Utah, South Dakota, and West Virginia. Bills await action from governors in Kansas, Montana and North Dakota. In addition to the ban in Arkansas, a federal judge has blocked enforcement of a similar law in Alabama, and nearly two dozen states are considering bills this year to limit or ban the care.
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The bill must receive 33 votes on Thursday and again in a later third round of debate to overcome filibusters and pass. Republican Governor Jim Pillen has said he will sign the bill if it passes.
