A bill to ban transgender K-12 students from using restrooms or locker rooms that do not match the biological sex assigned to them at birth fell victim to a filibuster on Friday.
The failed vote by senators to end debate in effect killed the bill.
The “Sports and Spaces Act” (LB575) from Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha only mustered 31 votes toward cloture after four hours of debate, two short of the 33 needed.
As such, the bill, which sat on the sideline for most of the year, fell off the agenda before the Legislature adjourned on Day 56 of the 60-day session.
Kauth said her priority bill was “designed to protect the fairness and integrity of girls’ sports” as well as the “dignity and privacy of all students” who use school bathrooms and locker rooms.
Backers of the bill admitted that while there were few transgender students in Nebraska’s K-12 schools, they said the bill was proactive in creating protections for female athletes and students.
But opponents said the bill, which they claimed was discriminatory and an attempt to legislate “state-sanctioned bullying” of transgender youth in Nebraska, added that it raised serious questions about how it would be enforced.
Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, a Republican who last year voted for another Kauth bill (LB574) banning certain medical treatments for transgender youth, said the issue was best managed at the local level.
“Let’s allow superintendents to work with their students and families as they have in the past, ensuring workable solutions with fairness, safety and respect for all,” he said.
Riepe also said the push from members of the State Board of Education for the Legislature to act was an attempt to avoid a costly lawsuit, moving that liability instead to state taxpayers, which he said he disagreed with doing.
“Certainly not a profile in courage,” he added.
Another Republican in the officially nonpartisan Legislature, Sen. Tom Brandt of Plymouth, said the bill created a host of unfunded mandates for public schools at a time when lawmakers were seeking ways to reduce property taxes paid by local residents.
Both Riepe and Brandt were present for the vote on the cloture motion, but did not vote either yes or no.
To comply with the provisions of LB575, Brandt said schools would potentially have to build new bathrooms that could be used by transgender students, as well as determine how to evaluate what chromosomes a student has.
Brandt said the bill immediately created problems for schools as well, potentially putting them in conflict with the law if a parent takes a young child of a different biological sex into a school bathroom.
“This bill is incomplete and it needs to be reworked,” he said. “The unintended consequences, I fear, is it will affect all girl athletes.”
Several senators — including Riepe and Brandt — said the Nebraska School Activities Association had already enacted a thoughtful policy that allows its member schools to evaluate whether or not a transgender student can participate in sports.
The “Gender Identity Eligibility Committee” includes a physician with experience working with transgender individuals, a psychiatrist, athletic director and an NSAA member to review applications completed by the school, student and their parents.
Fewer than 10 students have submitted an application and been approved by the committee since the policy was approved by a majority of the NSAA’s membership in 2016, and it has been used as a model for other states.
Other lawmakers, including Lincoln Sen. Anna Wishart, said LB575 was part of “a broader effort to persecute a group of people in our country” in recent years.
“I don’t think we look back at any of those past actions and we say that was the right thing we did in history,” Wishart said. “No, I think we look back at those periods of discrimination and oppression as a stain on humanity.”
Omaha Sen. John Fredrickson, who is the first openly gay man to serve in the Legislature, said some of the biggest harm to LGBTQ Nebraskans has been done during the debates over both LB574 and LB575.
Speaking to a small group of mothers in the balcony, Fredrickson urged them to “surround yourself with the people that you love.”
“If you love your kid unconditionally for who they are, and if they know they’re loved, you can weather a lot,” he said. “Don’t spend a minute of your energy or your time thinking about any of my colleagues here who are too scared of difference to allow themselves to understand and celebrate the beauty and joy that you bring to our state.”
And Omaha Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who spent weeks in 2023 filibustering the bill banning certain medical procedures for transgender youth, said the effort was misguided.
“You don’t have to like trans people, but you don’t have to hate them either.”
