Nebraska Lawmaker Vows to Keep Blocking Bills Until Trans Rights Are Safe

Every day, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who represents 6th District in the Nebraska state legislature, carpools to work with her younger brother, John, who represents the 9th District. It’s a 55-minute drive from Omaha, where they live, to Lincoln, where the state Capitol is. Usually, they talk shop about whatever is happening on the floor of the legislature. For the last three weeks, it’s been a whole lot of nothing: Cavanaugh has filibustered every single piece of legislation that has come to floor over a bill that would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to minors. 

Nebraska is the only state in the country with a unicameral, or single body, legislature, which means that Cavanaugh, a Democrat, has effectively ground the gears of government to halt. This year’s 90-day legislative session is now more than half over, and not a single piece of legislation has been sent to the governor’s office — the longest stretch in Nebraska state history.

The blockade began when LB 574 — which would ban doctors from providing gender-affirming medical care to anyone under the age of 19 — advanced out of committee. The bill is part of a record amount of anti-trans legislation that has been introduced this year. According to the ACLU, there have been at least 85 bills targeting such care filed this session in more than two dozen states. Six states, including Utah, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas, Alabama, and South Dakota, have already outlawed the practice. Legislatures in Iowa and Kentucky have both passed laws banning such care this session. Lawmakers in Missouri are currently debating whether or not to ban such medical treatment.

The Nebraska Legislature voted on Thursday to advance LB 574. Rolling Stone spoke with Cavanaugh about her efforts to thwart it on the eve of the vote. 

Let’s start at the beginning: How did this issue become the most important one for you?
I’m on the Health and Human Services Committee. On February 22, the bill was voted out of committee and onto the floor of the legislature for general debate. I told my committee members at that time — well, first, I tried to encourage them not to do that — but I told them that if this bill were to move forward to the floor, that I was going to make it my priority, and mission. I think the exact words I used at the time were that I would “burn the session to the ground.” I just let them know my strong feelings. I don’t mince words. So the next morning, on February 23, I started filibustering, and pretty much haven’t stopped since.

Is it something you were considering and planning for before you did it? How did you think about it ahead of time?
Well — I didn’t. [Laughs.] I didn’t think about it. When faced with the reality that this bill was going to move forward, in that moment I wanted it to be clear to the people that were voting for it that this was a big deal and that it was going to come at a cost. There was no prior interest, internal dialogue, or external dialogue about it. When it was happening is when I realized that I needed to say whatever I needed to say to try and persuade them not to move it forward. I did not persuade them, they still moved it forward. But I am very much a woman of my word. So when I showed up the next morning, feeling very unwell, I said, “Well, I told you I was going to do this. So I’m gonna do it.”

I filibustered for that Thursday and Friday with strep throat. The video of me that went viral is from that point in time. I do not remember that speech, except for that. I’ve seen it so many times now. I was very sick. I was having a hard time standing up. I had a fever. I was swaying.

What are the rules?
Our cloture rule is that after eight hours of “full and fair” debate the introducer can make a motion for cloture. And at that time, you have to have 33 out of 49 votes in order to get cloture and to move the bill forward. [Ed note: There are 32 Republicans in the Nebraska Legislature.] You have to keep it going for eight hours — sometimes it’s continuous, sometimes it’s not because we’ve been doing morning debate [and committee hearings in the afternoon]. I’ve been talking on every bill, it’s taken about three days to get through one bill.

Can you leave to go to the bathroom or something like that?
I can if somebody else is willing to speak.

Have you been switching off with others, or doing it all yourself? 
No, I haven’t been doing it all myself. There is a contingent of other people who oppose LB 574, who have been standing up and helping me prior to this week’s debate. If the bill moves forward [on Thursday], that group is going to grow.

Is this issue personal to you at all, or is it purely a principled objection to the bill?
Yes to both. There are people in my life that I care about, for whom just seeing legislation like this is harmful. But, really, at the end of the day, this isn’t about my own personal experience with the trans community. This is about my very firm belief that we should not legislate hate, and that there’s no business in the Nebraska Legislature for bills like this. I think it’s really unfortunate that we’re seeing legislation like this across the country. I view it is my responsibility as someone who’s very interested in maintaining strong public policy in our state legislature to stand up against things like this, because this is not the role of government. This is not something that we should be legislating and we’re doing it out of a place of fear and hate. If I don’t stand up against that and protect trans children, then I am failing at my job. 

Dozens of bills like this one have been introduced around the country this year. Why do you think lawmakers are so obsessed with trans kids?
I think that this has become a national clickbait story translated into legislation. This is model legislation that we’re seeing across the country and other states — and model legislation is not good legislation. Every state is unique. Every situation is unique. No state should be taking on an issue of this level of intimacy and importance through model legislation. 

I was going to ask if you knew if this bill was written by the sponsor, Sen. Kathleen Kauth, [who sponsored another anti-trans bill this year], or if it was distributed by a group that is advancing this type of legislation in multiple states? Do you know?
I do know that this exact language — or almost exact language — is the language of the bill that’s being held up right now in the courts in Arkansas. It is extremely similar. And we are in the same circuit [meaning the court’s decision would apply to this law]! It just makes it extra ridiculous that we would be trying to introduce legislation that the courts are currently discussing the constitutionality of.

You vowed to “make it painful” for lawmakers to target trans youth. What’s your sense of whether you’ve accomplished the goal at this point?
Well, I would say that they’re very displeased with me. They’re very vocal in their feelings about me on the floor of the legislature.

You paused your filibuster Tuesday to allow debate on the bill. Has anything surprised you about the debate?
The disappointing thing has been that there hasn’t really been debate. The people in “support” of the bill are just reading debunked medical studies and things that they’ve Googled. There’s no substantive conversation about the legislation itself, and the policy itself, and the practicality of how it works. There’s no substantive conversation over the concerns of the medical community writ large in the state of Nebraska.

I’ve heard Nebraska described as one of the least-polarized legislatures in the country. Is this the first anti-trans bill that the body has considered? What’s kept Nebraska out of the culture wars until now and what’s changed?
I’ve never known of a bill attacking the trans community prior to this. I think that Nebraska is significantly less polarized than other states. Part of it is that we are a unicameral so we are not partisan to begin with. But, also, we don’t caucus by political party, we don’t have political-party leadership within the body. I do think that it’s beginning to change because we’re seeing a massive influx of money from [former Nebraska governor and current U.S. Sen.] Pete Ricketts, [son of billionaire Joe Ricketts,] into our legislative races. That, coupled with the fact that we now have term limits in Nebraska, which we didn’t previously have. 

Have you heard from any of your colleagues who changed their minds about this bill? What was it that convinced them?
I have heard from several colleagues who do not support this legislation, who actually oppose the tenets and the principle of the legislation, but apparently — and we’ll see [Thursday], I hope that I’m wrong — from what they’ve been saying publicly, they are too weak to stand by their own principles. 

Now that the bill is on the floor, you’re blocking amendments to the bill, for better or worse. Can you tell me how you decided to do that?
They want to have an amendment that allows the more palatable parts of gender-affirming care — basically: therapy — to remain legal, and the parts that they are judgmental and transphobic to be illegal. My decision was that if you want to vote for this bill, you can vote for this bill. I’m not going to allow you to assuage your transphobia. And every way that this has been spoken about reeks of a call to arms for future legislation to take away the rights of trans people, not just trans children.

Can you take us behind the scenes of the state legislature? What has it been like there? 
I think everyone is worn out. I think everyone is, emotionally, ready for this to be over. It’s hard. It’s really hard. There have been families and us coming every single day during session to advocate against this bill. It’s been hard to see these families talking to legislators who won’t listen to them, who won’t trust them as parents. That’s been pretty heartbreaking to see.

I feel like the way that this particular bill is being engaged with is harmful, not just because of the bill, but because it is causing some of my colleagues to be cruel to their constituents when they show up to talk to their legislator. And that’s not something you ever want to see.

You represent an Omaha district. What has the response from your constituents been? 
Overwhelming support. I’ve heard from thousands of people, not just in my district, but across the state. It does really start to run together. People who are in support just because they support what I’m doing, people who are in support because of what it means to their family, their children. I have had some negative reaction, but it has honestly been very limited. I am surprised at how limited the negative reaction.

Do you have a prediction about how the vote will go?
It’s gonna be razor-thin. It’s probably going to come down to one, maybe two votes. 

If it advances tomorrow, will you keep filibustering?
Everything. Including my brother’s bills. That is my intention. There are 43 days left and we’re switching [from half-day] to all-day debates from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It’s going to be taxing. But one of the main reasons that I continue to show up to do this every day is because I want to make sure that trans kids across the state, and really, trans people in this country, know that there are people that are fighting for them. That there are people in positions of power that are willing to stand up and fight for their identity and for their lives. And I hope that that gives them hope.