#machaela cavanaugh

[batboyblog]

Nebraska state Senators Megan Hunt and Machaela Cavanaugh are leading master class in dealing with transphobes in power:

Be mean to them.

from Senator Cavanaugh:

“I’m going to block anything from changing this bill. I tried to get the committee to change this bill before it came out of committee. I tried to convince the committee members that we should consider an amendment. I asked if the introducer requested an amendment. No. No. No.”

“So now you wanna compromise? To assuage your guilt? No thank you. I will not allow you to assuage your guilt. If you want to find a way to vote for 574, vote for 574. It’s there for you. Go for it. Have at it. But it’s not gonna get better. It’s going to be in its pure from that Sen. [Kathleen Kauth] and the male members of the HHS committee decided it would be in.”

“You get to vote for that and nothing else. If you want to blame me for your inability to stand up for your own beliefs, fine. I don’t have to live with you. I don’t have to live with your conscious, you do.”

and Senator Hunt:

“This bill harms me in an unforgivable way. This is a line you don’t cross with me. If you cross it today you’re staying on other side of it, because you have done irreparable harm. You’re doing harm to the body and Nebraska as well. Don’t say hi to me in the hall. Don’t ask me how my weekend was. Don’t walk my desk and ask me anything. Don’t send me Christmas cards. Take me off the list. You don’t know me. We have no relationship. And if you don’t believe me, if you think I’m going to cool down and change my mind? You should believe me. 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. You aren’t welcome in my space. You aren’t’ a safe person for my child to be around or any child frankly. Don’t believe me? You should.”

[the-cimmerians]

Last month, Nebraska state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh declared that she'd filibuster every damn bill the Republican-controlled legislature put forward unless it pulled proposed legislation banning gender-affirming health care for transgender youth. Specifically, this anti-trans garbage would ban puberty blockers, gender-affirming surgeries, and hormone therapy.

Cavanaugh wasn't shy about her intentions. She said, "If people are like, 'Is she threatening us?' let me be clear: Yes, I am. I am threatening you." She added, "If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful; painful for everyone. Because if you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body.”

[xipiti]

Nebraska lawmakers haven't passed a single bill this session, as a state lawmaker continues a weeks-long filibuster protest over trans rights and vows to "burn this session to the ground" if she has to.

Who is she?

Democratic state senator Machaela Cavanaugh.

Starting in February, Cavanaugh has filibustered every bill that has come before the legislature this session.

She is protesting proposal LB574 — or the "Let Them Grow Act" — which was put forward by a Republican lawmaker.

Under the bill's current version, physicians would be barred from providing gender-affirming procedures and care for Nebraska residents younger than 19.

Cavanaugh talks for up to 12 hours a day on the floor to prevent bills passing, speaking on everything from the bills themselves to her favorite salads.

And she has made her intentions clear: "If this legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful — for everyone."

[libelula202]

This is from Mar 22, 2023.

She filibustered to protest bill LB574.

Unfortunately, the bill passed.

(Source/article linked under the cut)

Nebraska hasn't passed a single bill this year because one lawmaker keeps filibustering in protest of an anti-trans bill: 'I will burn this session to the ground'

Damn. I thought she was just gonna up and make a fuss and her swearing to protect trans kids was a bunch of empty words (again).

But no. She's one-woman filibustering the entire Nebraska legislature into a complete standstill until they agree to protect the rights of trans kids.

She was 100% serious when she said she'd make it as painful for everyone as it is for trans kids. Gahddamn.

This is why small elections matter. She's not a country wide senator or president or shit. She's just a local official representing District 6 in Nebraska.

This is why the "smaller" elections between the presidential elections matter.

-fae

[batboyblog]

LINCOLN, Neb. (KMTV) — State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha has been filibustering every bill in the Nebraska Legislature for three weeks, but that ended Thursday morning. 

She announced a pause for now. But if a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for transgender youth dies on the floor of the legislature next week, her filibuster of every bill will end.

The filibuster has been focused on that bill, LB 574. But in an agreement with Speaker John Arch, the bill will be officially debated beginning on Tuesday. 

Cavanaugh says the bill will die two days later, on Thursday next week. She believes it does not have the 33 votes necessary to overcome a filibuster.

"It'll fail on cloture," she said. "It's time to get some work done for Nebraska."

----

"This is a direct attack and assault on trans children, and not standing up for trans children would be a failure on my part. I'm going to stand up for as long as they need me to or as exhausting as it is, or how much it hurts my throat or my feet," Cavanaugh said. "They deserve that."

She said, "As long as this bill is no longer a threat to the trans children in Nebraska, then I will move forward in a positive direction."

in other words:

Victory!

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

Also worthy of attention - the incredible Megan Hunt - Nebraska State Senator from Omaha’s District 8. She’s a fierce protector of her trans son and a fucking lioness:

I’m in awe of her.

Now THIS is allyship.

[ganurath]

There's a lot going on here, so I'm going to hammer the key points.

The bill up for debate proposed by District 31's Senator Kathleen Kauth, LB574, prevents Nebraskans age 18 or younger from receiving surgical and/or medical services to help them transition. Health care providers are forbidden from making so much as a reference to another provider, even one in a state where such treatment would be legal.

Up until recently, the filibustering of Senator Machaela Cavanaugh of District 6 has been hitting every bill that has come up, slowing the session to the crawl. Earlier this week, LB574 got moved up in the queue to try to get the matter out of the way.

If debate runs out of time, a cloture vote is held, which requires a 2/3rds majority of 33 votes to succeed. Otherwise, a simple majority is required. With a single house legislature and a Republican governor, running the debate to the cloture vote is the best defense of Nebraska's trans youth. With 17 Democrats in the Nebraska Senate, they have just enough to keep the debate going so long as none of them vote to end the debate.

Which is precisely what the Democrat Senator from District 5, Mike McDonnell, did. There are two more rounds of debate after this, before the bill either dies or gets the governor's signature.

McDonnell has diverged from the Democrat party line before, citing his Catholic faith as the reason for his anti-abortion position. According to the article above and more local publications on the topic, all the lawmakers in the unicameral were alerted to how psychological professionals have been receiving calls from patients in crisis, considering suicide. Given the Catholic Church's position on suicide, I'm hoping an appeal to his faith might sway him where basic human empathy (such as for his fellow Senator, Megan Hunt, who has a trans son young enough to be impacted by the bill) seems to have failed him.

Also, various local publications have said he has mayoral ambitions, so anyone living in Omaha outside his particular voting district shouldn't feel shy about contacting the email address on his public profile.

[archaalen]

AP News: Nebraska lawmaker 3 weeks into filibuster over trans bill

Not all heroes...

[midweastindigo]

#hot if true

stop she's so real for this

[batboyblog]

LINCOLN, Neb. —  

The Nebraska Legislature was set to vote Thursday on a contentious bill that seeks to ban gender-affirming care for minors and led one lawmaker to stage a weekslong filibuster.

The vote to advance the bill was expected on the third day of debate in which lawmakers have angrily accused one another of hypocrisy and a lack of collegiality. It also saw Omaha Sen. Megan Hunt promising to join fellow Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh’s effort to filibuster every bill that comes before lawmakers for the rest of the 90-day session if the bill advances. 

Hunt took to the floor of the Legislature on Wednesday to confess that the debate is deeply personal for her, because her teenage son is transgender. She called the bill an affront to her as a parent and called out by name lawmakers she would hold accountable if they vote to advance it.

“If this bill passes, all your bills are on the chopping block, and the bridge is burned,” she said. “I’m not doing anything for you. Because this is fake. this has nothing to do with real life. this is all of you playing government.”

The proposal had caused tumult in the legislative session long before debate began on it earlier this week. It was cited as the genesis of a nearly three-week, uninterrupted filibuster carried by Cavanaugh, who followed through on her vow in late February to filibuster every bill before the Legislature — even those she supported — declaring she would “burn the session to the ground over this bill.”

She stuck with it until an agreement was reached late last week to push the bill to the front of the debate queue. Instead of trying to eat time to keep the bill from getting to the floor, Cavanaugh decided she wanted a vote to put on the record which lawmakers would “legislate hate against children.”

The Nebraska bill, along with another that would ban trans people from using bathrooms and locker rooms or playing on sports teams that don’t align with the sex listed on their birth certificates, are among roughly 150 bills targeting transgender people that have been introduced in state legislatures this year. 

Introduced by Republican Sen. Kathleen Kauth, a freshman lawmaker, the bill would outlaw gender-affirming therapies such as hormone treatments, puberty blockers and gender reassignment surgery for those 18 and younger. The purpose of the bill, she has said, is to protect youth from undertaking gender-affirming treatments they might later regret as adults, citing research that says adolescents’ brains aren’t fully developed.

She introduced an amendment Tuesday to drop the restriction on hormone treatments, instead banning only gender reassignment surgery for minors in an effort to get enough votes for the measure to advance. But opponents vowed to force a vote Thursday on the original bill.

If advanced, the bill would have to survive two more rounds of debate to pass in the unique one-house, officially nonpartisan Legislature. Republican Gov. Jim Pillen has said he will sign the bill into law if it reaches his desk.

If it fails to advance, it’s dead for the session, but could be revived next year.

today is the moment of truth, Nebraska Republicans need 33 votes to override Senator Cavanaugh's (and Senator Hunt now) filibuster, there are 32 Republicans, if every Democrat hangs tough and backs up Cavanaugh and Hunt then this bill dies, at least for the rest of the year.

[afragmentcastadrift]

A clip to her appearance on The Rachel Maddow show, Feb. 27, 2023 - https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow/watch/state-democrat-stands-up-to-republican-fixation-on-anti-trans-restrictions-164150341945 

[bisexualpixiebabe]

Shout-out to the lawmaker in Nebraska who has been filibustering for three weeks to prevent anti-trans legislation from being passed and has talked about her favorite girl scout cookies, the best places to get donuts, and the plot of Madagascar. She's refusing to budge and is a fucking hero.

[thewickedwren]

ultra_american

This is democrat Nebraska State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh.