Democrat Nebraska State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh has vowed to filibuster all bills unless Republicans back down on bills that would ban abortion and transgender surgeries and hormones for minors.
Sen. Cavanaugh is now three weeks into her filibuster and has vowed to “burn the session to the ground” if she does not get her way when it comes to mutilating children.
The session is now halfway over, and no bills have passed, because of Cavanaugh’s filibuster.
“If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone,” Cavanaugh said, according to a report from the Associated Press. “I will burn the session to the ground over this bill.”
In February, the state senator expressed a similar sentiment, saying that “if you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body.”
In order to stall bills, Cavanaugh has taken to the floor and spent hours talking about ridiculous things such as “her favorite Girl Scout cookies, Omaha’s best doughnuts and the plot of the animated movie ‘Madagascar,’” the Associated Press reports.
Omaha Sen. Kathleen Kauth has been the most viciously targeted by Sen. Cavanaugh because she is the one who introduced the legislation to ban hormones and transgender surgeries for minors.
LB574, or the Let Them Grow Act, would prohibit physicians in the state from performing or referring an individual for gender alteration procedures if the individual is under 19. The bill would also prohibit the distribution or use of state funds for any entity, organization, or individual that provides gender-altering procedures to minors.
“More than 85 percent of kids with gender dysphoria will desist if left alone in a process called ‘watchful waiting’,” Sen. Kauth said in a statement. “These children need therapy to deal with the coexisting mental and emotional struggles they are experiencing — not irreversible, harmful and experimental medical procedures.”
“A physician who knowingly violates the bill’s provisions would be subject to review by the state’s medical licensing board. An individual who received a gender altering procedure while under the age of 19, or their parent or guardian, could bring a civil action against the physician within two years of a procedure,” Sen. Kauth explained.
Cavanaugh has also previously stated that she is, in fact, threatening the other members of the senate.
NE State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh (D-Omaha) prepares to filibuster every bill on the legislative agenda unless Republicans pull their anti-trans bill.
“If people are like, ‘Is she threatening us?,’ let me clear: Yes, I am. I am threatening you.” pic.twitter.com/ccOeCJoGGa
— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 24, 2023
“If LB574 gets an early floor debate and moves forward, it will be very painful for this body. And if people are like, ‘Is she threatening us?’ Let me be clear: Yes I am,” Cavanaugh said on the floor, according to a report from local station WOWT.