One Nebraska state senator vowed to filibuster every bill until an act targeting LGBTQ youth is shelved … Now, some of her colleagues are joining in the effort.
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00:00We are blowing up this session. The session's over. Hating trans kids in Nebraska is more
00:05important to you than the rest of this entire session. That's just one of the Nebraska state
00:09senators who has promised to filibuster until a bill targeting LGBTQ youth is shelved. As a
00:15reminder, a filibuster is a political tactic in which lawmakers delay or block a vote from
00:20happening. The Let Them Grow Act, a bill introduced by a Republican state senator, would ban gender
00:25affirming medical care, including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries,
00:29for anyone under the age of 19. The standoff started weeks ago when Mikayla Kavanaugh,
00:34a fellow Democratic state senator, vowed to filibuster every single bill, even one she
00:39supported from her own party. We are not standing in the way of the legislature doing business. You
00:44are doing that. If it were any other issue than trans kids medical care, everyone would be up
00:50in arms. Kavanaugh has spent hours on the legislative floor talking about everything
00:54from animated movies to her favorite Girl Scout cookies in an attempt to force Republicans to
00:59shelve the Let Them Grow Act. Other Democratic state senators, including Megan Hunt, who has
01:03a transgender son, have since joined Kavanaugh in pledging to filibuster and use procedural rules
01:09for the rest of the legislative session in order to stall the restrictive anti-LGBTQ bill. As a
01:15result of Kavanaugh's filibusters, the Nebraska state legislature has not passed one bill this year.