Nebraska lawmaker threatened with censure for comparing transgender legislation with genocide

[RandySF]

LINCOLN — A Nebraska lawmaker faced a threat of censure Wednesday for alleging that a couple of bills aim to perpetrate genocide against transgender Nebraskans.

State Sen. Julie Slama of Dunbar offered the motion after State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha made comparisons between past genocides and two bills that she said would lead to a genocide.

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha introduced the bills that Cavanaugh said “legislate hate.” They would, respectively, prohibit access to some health care for youth experiencing gender dysphoria and restrict bathrooms or sports teams on the basis of sex assigned at birth.

On Wednesday, Cavanaugh outlined “The Ten Stages of Genocide” as defined by the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which states that “genocide never just happens.”

“There is always a set of circumstances which occur or which are created to build the climate in which genocide can take place,” Cavanaugh said, quoting the trust.



https://www.newsfromthestates.com/article/nebraska-lawmaker-threatened-censure-comparing-transgender-legislation-genocide

[Delphinus]

1. She has

been doing great work - I'm not seeing that she is wrong. Sadly.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. A Nebraska legislator is 3 weeks into a filibuster over a trans bill

This lady has been doing amazing work

Link to tweet

https://www.nbcnews.com/nbc-out/out-politics-and-policy/nebraska-lawmaker-3-weeks-filibuster-trans-bill-rcna75043?cid=sm_npd_ms_tw_lw

It was a mundane, unanimously supported bill on liquor taxation that saw state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh take to the mic on the Nebraska Legislature floor last week. She offered her support, then spent the next three days discussing everything but the bill, including her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts and the plot of the animated movie “Madagascar.”

She also spent that time railing against an unrelated bill that would outlaw gender-affirming therapies for those 18 and younger. It was the advancement of that bill out of committee that led Cavanaugh to promise three weeks ago to filibuster every bill that comes before the Legislature this year — even the ones she supports.

“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” the Omaha married mother of three said. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”....

Cavanaugh’s effort has drawn the gratitude of the LGBTQ community, said Abbi Swatsworth, executive director of LGBTQ advocacy group OutNebraska. The organization has been encouraging members and others to inundate state lawmakers with calls and emails to support Cavanaugh’s effort and oppose bills targeting transgender people.

“We really see it as a heroic effort,” Swatsworth said of the filibuster. “It is extremely meaningful when an ally does more than pay lip service to allyship. She really is leading this charge.”