Democrat with trans son delivers powerful speech against anti-trans bill: ‘Harms me in an unforgivable way’
Nebraska state senator Megan Hunt has vowed to filibuster every bill for the rest of the legislative session. (Twitter/The Recount)
Nebraska state senator Megan Hunt, who has a trans son, has vowed to filibuster every bill that comes before legislature after an anti-trans bill that has harmed her “in an unforgivable way” was advanced.
The bill, backed by Nebraska senator Kathleen Kauth, would ban gender-affirming care for under 18s in the state. According to Kauth, the purpose of the bill is to protect youth from undertaking gender-affirming treatments they might later regret as adults.
Democrat Hunt, who is bisexual, shared her disgust at the bill advancing and how it would impact her son in a committee meeting on Wednesday (22 March), and again to the wider body the following day.
“This bill harms me in an unforgivable way. And this is a line that you don’t cross with me.
“If you cross it today you’re staying on the other side of it because you have done a reputable harm and 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 by my desk and ask me anything.
“Don’t send me Christmas cards – take me off the list. 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 a safe person for my child to be around’
She added that those pushing the bill weren’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,” she added.
Speaking directly to Republicans, Hunt confirmed she will filibuster every bill that comes forward, adding: “Because we’re not like you, we have a principal and a value that actually matters that much to us that we’re willing to stand up for.
“This is how much this matters to us. You guys really don’t get it. You really don’t get that the session is over.”
Hunt called out Nebraska Senator Brad von Gillern, telling him “you really don’t get it”.
“You’ve crossed a line and you’ve gone too far.”
If the bill isn’t passed by the end of the legislature’s session on 9 June, it will fail.
Hunt’s opposition to the repressive bill follows opposition from Democrat Machaela Cavanaugh.
Cavanaugh is now several weeks into filibustering every bill that comes before the Nebraska legislature after she promised to “burn the session to the ground” to prevent the anti-trans bill from becoming law.
Since Cavanaugh began her blockade, only three bills have advanced, AP News reported.
It’s not the first time Megan Hunt has stood for equal rights. In January she proposed an amendment to a homophobic, anti-drag bill which would ban church youth camps or, as she puts it, “religious indoctrination camps”.
At the time she said it was being done simply to “make a point” about the absurdity of continuous attempts by Republican lawmakers in the US to impose cruel restrictions on LGBTQ+ people.
