Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, of Nebraska, promised to make her colleagues’ job painful this year if they insisted on moving forward on an anti-trans bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for those under the age of 19.
They insisted. And she followed through.
For three weeks Cavanaugh filibustered every single bill grinding the legislature to a halt. Each time a bill advanced out of committee she would introduce amendment after amendment while also spending as much time as allowed at the microphone to hold the bills hostage.
“I will burn the session to the ground over this bill,” Cavanaugh said at the time, according to the Associated Press.
Her goal worked.
By the halfway point of the legislative session last Wednesday not a single bill passed with only a handful making it out of their respective committees.
Last week Cavanaugh compromised on the impasse by asking for the anti-trans bill to be moved to the front of the queue.
Debate on the bill will start Tuesday.
The deal may mean she has the votes to kill when a vote is taken. But if the bill advances she has promised to filibuster every bill for the remainder of the session she’s told several news outlets.
"It is extremely meaningful when an ally does more than pay lip service to allyship," said executive director Abbi Swatsworth of OutNebraska. "She really is leading this charge."
The Nebraska legislature is dominated by conservatives, but even so Democrats have enough seats they could block a bill they don’t like if they stick together.
"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," Cavanaugh said previously. "I have nothing, nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it."
Gender-affirming care for minors is supported by the American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
