#trans care ban

[zinniajones]

Text of thread at https://kolektiva.social/@zinnia/110418489814171631:

Yes - this is what is happening in Florida due to SB 254, which was signed into law on Tuesday 5/17/2023, taking immediate effect. This immediately cut off 80%+ of adult trans people in Florida from having their HRT refilled, because SB 254 uniquely prohibits only nurse practitioners from prescribing only gender-affirming medications.

This has already been in effect for 7 days now.

Trans adults in Florida have already been cut off from their HRT refills for a week now, including those of us who have been stable on these medications for years or decades.

This is VERY different from the general situation of trans youth care bans in 19 states, many still working their way through the courts.

This has *already* happened, to *all* of us: all trans adults in the third most populous state in the US.

The number of trans adults on HRT massively exceeds the sliver of the population that are under 18 and are prescribed puberty blockers or hormone therapy.

These laws, advanced under the pretext of 'protecting children', are now directly impacting a far larger group of people who are not children and are not subject to those pretextual concerns.

Other arguments about withholding public Medicaid funding for transition treatment also do not apply here: SB 254 does not even allow receiving this care through private insurance or paying cash out of pocket. The care isn't simply not covered - the care itself cannot be provided regardless.

What is happening in Florida requires special attention above the situation of trans youth care bans nationally. This is having a vastly larger impact quantifiably.

It will have worse impacts qualitatively as well: adults are responsible for taking care of and protecting trans kids and making sure they do not hurt themselves.

Whereas as a trans adult, we have no one standing guard at the brink but our own self and the void to which we are accountable.

These are the facts as they stand right now. These are the facts as they have stood for a WEEK and NO ONE nationally is putting any attention on this because there are 19 trans youth care bans all across the country going on, along with everything else targeting trans people and the LGBT community broadly.

This is a specific harm that is happening now and has been happening for 168 hours.

It is not a hypothetical issue to raise awareness of, as if it were at the stage of some proposal that needs to be fought back. This has already happened and is happening right now. Active harm is happening until this law is rolled back.

For all of Florida's history since the inception of the applicable regulatory and licensing bodies, nurse practitioners have been allowed to prescribe hormone therapy, testosterone blockers and other relevant gender-affirming medications.

That has been the case since I moved here in 2011. There was no reason why this wouldn't be the case. It's also the case in every other state.

This new law is a carveout of prescriptions when used for one purpose, gender-affirming care, from nurse practitioners specifically, in a way that has never been done before. It affects all ages.

It has immediately obstructed access to HRT prescription refills for more than 80% of TRANS ADULTS in Florida.

It has also prohibited first appointments for HRT via telehealth with in-state or out-of-state MDs or DOs - first appointments must be in person. This will require expensive and time-consuming travel that is beyond most trans people's means: driving to Georgia from Florida can take 8 hours.

This was an intentional targeting of almost all trans adults in Florida, and the means by which we have received our generic, FDA-approved medications for years. And it included closing every possible door that would let us find another way to keep taking the medications we have taken for...

Well, for me it was 3,891 days when the clock stopped

#tw forced detransition #detransition #Florida #SB 254 #trans care ban #adult trans care ban #transphobia #HRT #transition #transitioning #hormone therapy

[gwydionmisha]

#Ohio #Trans Care Ban #Anti-Trans Laws #Trans #News

[reasonsforhope]

"Georgia Republicans bundled over a dozen measures that targeted the state’s transgender residents into omnibus packages in a desperate attempt to get them passed. In a stunning defeat for the GOP, every single one of them failed.

Legislators gutted bills that had passed through committee and instead stuffed them full of their anti-LGBTQ+ wishlist items.

Bills that would ban transgender students from playing on teams aligned with their gender identity, ban transgender students from bathrooms aligned with their gender identity, opt parents into notification for every book a student checks out of the library, bar sex education before sixth grade, make all sex-ed classes opt-in and expand obscenity laws to make it easier to ban books with LGBTQ+ content all failed.

“MAGA politicians in Georgia tried it all in service to their anti-LGBTQ+ agenda,” said Human Rights Campaign Georgia State Director Bentley Hudgins, “including silencing debate and gutting unrelated, popular bills that had bipartisan support to ram through policies that would have put young LGBTQ+ Georgians in harm’s way. They failed.”

“It’s undeniable that the tides are shifting, both here in Georgia and across the nation,” Georgia Equality executive director Jeff Graham added. “Anti-LGBTQ actors are losing their political power, and more and more Georgians who know and love LGBTQ people are standing up against their baseless fear-mongering.”

In Florida recently, nearly two dozen anti-LGBTQ+ bills were defeated in the wake of Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) presidential campaign implosion, dozens of measures in Virginia were tabled [Note: In the US, "tabled" means "shelved" or "taken out of consideration - the opposite of its meaning in the UK and other places], and Ohio’s governor backed off his attempt to restrict gender-affirming care access for transgender adults and minors. 

Meanwhile, in D.C., Democrats successfully excised 50 anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the two budget bills passed and signed by President Joe Biden to fund the federal government.

Even Fox News has been forced to acknowledge transgender issues are among the lowest-priority concerns among voters."

-via LGBTQ Nation, April 1, 2024

#united states #us politics #lgbtq #lgbtq issues #lgbtq positivity #transgender #trans issues #trans positivity #transphobia #homophobia #anti trans laws #book bans #gender affirming care #georgia #florida #virginia #ohio #d.c. #republicans #democrats #voting matters #good news #hope

[genderqueerpositivity]

The Campaign for Southern Equality, in partnership with state and local organizations, is providing rapid response support to the families of youth who are impacted by anti-transgender healthcare bans that are passing across the South. We are providing grants, navigation support, and resources to impacted families as they ensure their children can access the care they need and deserve. We are currently providing support to impacted families in Mississippi, Tennessee and South Carolina, and we are preparing to work in other states.

Please join us by donating.

We are honored to work on this project in partnership with The TRANS Program, Mississippi Rising, Inclusion TN, and OUT Memphis.

(ID: text reads "Donate to support the Southern Trans Youth Emergency Fund. Fuel our work to provide direct support to trans youth and families impacted by anti-transgender healthcare bans across the south", below this the Campaign for Southern Equality logo and a link to the fund on their website.)

#trans #transgender #transgender health care #trans healthcare #trans healthcare bans #gender affirming care #trans healthcare fund #trans healthcare funds #queer #nonbinary #genderqueer #lgbtq #lgbtqia #lgbtqiap

[liberaljane]

Anti-Trans Legislation Kills

[Digital illustration of a Black trans women wearing a dress made of words describing anti-trans legislation. Bills included are, “gender-affirming care bans, insurance coverage bans, drag bans, misgendering, uneducated medical professionals, youth sports bans, book bans, dead naming, stigma, and workplace discrimination.’ Text reads, ‘anti-trans legislation kills.’]

#art #feminism #feminist #trans rights #anti trans laws #anti trans legislation #politics #lgbtq #lgbtq rights #feminist art #gender affirming care #misgendering #drag bans #book bans #youth sports bans #dead naming #workplace discrimination

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

The first openly transgender state representative in Montana history is facing either censure or outright expulsion, after she said Republicans would have “blood on their hands” for passing a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

Rep. Zooey Zephyr was sworn in just three months ago after winning a Missoula-based seat in November. GOP leaders have refused to recognize her in floor debates until she apologizes for the comment. On Monday, supporters rallied on the steps of the state Capitol, and chants of “Let her speak!” shut down proceedings in the House for nearly a half-hour, as Zephyr hoisted her microphone above her head.

On Tuesday, Zephyr tweeted a letter she received from leaders in the Republican-controlled chamber declaring their intention to bring a motion “with respect to the conduct of Representative Zooey Zephyr.”

The House will “determine if [Zephyr]’s conduct on the Floor of the House on April 24, 2023 violated the rules, collective rights, safety, dignity, integrity, or decorum of the House of Representatives, and if so, whether to impose disciplinary consequences for those actions,” according to the letter sent to Zephyr. The House will meet Wednesday afternoon.

“I have been informed that during tomorrow’s floor session there will be a motion to either censure or expel me,” Zephyr said in a Tuesday tweet. “I’ve also been told I’ll get a chance to speak. I will do as I have always done—rise on behalf of my constituents, in defense of my community, & for democracy itself.”

Zephyr’s clash with the GOP began last week when she made the comment during a floor debate on the transition care ban. Since then, Republicans have refused to let her participate in floor debates entirely, even when she’s requested to speak last week, the far-right Montana Freedom Caucus demanded Zephyr’s immediate censure while misgendering her in their statement.

The move to silence Zephyr has been met with fierce protests. On Monday, supporters rallied on the steps of the state Capitol, and chants of “Let her speak!” shut down proceedings in the House for nearly a half-hour, as Zephyr hoisted her microphone above her head.

Riot cops who were called to the chamber arrested seven protesters. Republicans claimed that the protests had turned violent, though the protesters were charged only with criminal trespassing, a misdemeanor. In the letter, Republican leaders said the House gallery, where Montana citizens are able to watch proceedings, will be closed Wednesday during the debate on whether to punish Zephyr.

“It’s not enough for them to get the harmful bills through,” Zephyr told reporters Monday. “When someone stands up and calls out their bills for the harm they cause, for the deaths they cause, they want silence. And we will not be complicit in our eradication.”

Montana House Speaker Matt Regier said in a statement Tuesday that “the choice not to follow House rules is one that Rep. Zephyr has made.”

“The only person silencing Rep. Zephyr is Rep. Zephyr. The Montana House will not be bullied,” Regier said.

Tensions have escalated in state legislatures such as Montana’s this year, as Republicans across the country have used simple rules violations as a pretext to crack down on dissent.

Earlier this month, the Tennessee House of Representatives expelled two young Black lawmakers, Rep. Justin Pearson of Memphis and Rep. Justin Jones of Nashville, and nearly expelled a third white lawmaker from Knoxville, after the trio protested for gun law reforms in the wake of the Covenant School shooting in Nashville in March.

The move, however, backfired spectacularly. Pearson and Jones became national figures overnight, they were quickly re-appointed to the seats they’d been expelled from, and both are expected to run in special elections to determine a replacement for, well, themselves. They met with President Joe Biden at the White House earlier this week.

Tennessee Republicans have also drawn increased scrutiny to themselves, after expelling Jones and Pearson for bringing “disorder and dishonor” to the legislature; a member of the leadership abruptly resigned last week after a complaint that he’d sexually harassed an intern became public, and the Speaker of the Tennessee House, Cameron Sexton, has faced new questions about whether he really resides in his district.

On Tuesday, Pearson offered his support to Zephyr in a tweet.

“Voices across the country continue to rise for justice and expose the anti-democratic behavior of people in Republican led states,” Pearson said. “We will not let our democracy die without fighting for every voice. We are in this fight from Memphis to Montana!”

#us politics #news #vice news #montana #transgender #transgender pride #transgender rights #transgender representation #trans rights #Montana house of Representatives #gender affirming care bans #trans healthcare ban #trans healthcare #Montana Freedom Caucus #Matt Regier #Zooey Zephyr #gop #tweet #Maritsa Georgiou #conservatives #republicans #Montana Capitol #censure #2023 #Justin Pearson #Justin Jones #tennessee three #Tennessee

[juniperleafdelivery]

#my art #trans #side note: following tags are a pretty long thought dump #ugh okay i'm going to be honest #i didn't know anything about predstrogen until she was banned and many people started talking about her #also looked through photomatt's blog very briefly #to me he sounds callous- if that's the right word. he just didn't seem to care about what happened to predstrogen prior to her being banned #also? car with hammers that explodes multiple times feels far from being a serious death threat to me #yes predstrogen explicitly mentioned death wishes #but i don't know. what she said is more cartoonish than serious #also something i noticed from photomatt: where is the evidence that predstrogen threatened other users? #i haven't been looking into all this that deeply #but that photomatt stating that as part of the reason for predstrogen's ban and then not elaborating is. weird. for lack of better words #on a slightly different note: i love tumblr and how i can be my silly queer self and nobody cares #but if we don't stand up for each other — especially those who are constant targets for harrassment and other crappy things #tumblr will eventually die or bear no resemblance to the site i enjoy so much #maybe i'm privileged! being a trans masc guy #or maybe i'm ignorant #but i guess i have a tendency to say a lot. and i hate staying silent when i have the opportunity to speak out #so i'm going to scream #and i hope y'all are going to speak in support of trans women too

[piosplayhouse]

Not going to get involved in the ao3 politics shit but I just want to say after reading some of the top posts on this site I can tell most of the people talking about this subject very clearly did not experience Sexytimes With Wangxian

#honestly though despite how you feel about rhe big topics i havent seen much discussion about how The Candidate just... doesnt seem #experienced to be working that position at all? just objectively reading her interview she says she has NO experience working online #even communicating with slack or such; self proclaimed fandom newbie etc #like I can't tell you what to think about the big issues but like if you wanted to hire someone to work at your local dog shelter #and you interviewed them and they said they only really just started interacting w dogs and they had never had any experience #with dealing with caring for animals at all or the adoption process.. would you hire them lol #anyway just my 2 bits #ao3 #ao3 discourse #also hiding this at the very bottom of the tags bc i dont want to catch heat but i actually dont think people are aware so just to qualify #the rpf rhat got ao3 banned in china was not about a real life minor . i see a lot of people talking about minor rpf and i think its weird #as shit too personally but just to get facts right the rpf that allegedly sparked the ban was about a 30yr old adult man #idk if that changes anything but just putting that out there #oh ok also im getting intel that the reason the fic was mass reported and ao3 wS subsequently banned was because the fic #featured one of the actors as trans. so thats a frightening addition if true

[gentlemanbutch]

Florida's genocidal legislation against transgender people: a basic guide on what's happening

Preface

Queer people in Florida -- ESPECIALLY trans people of all ages -- are in trouble and it's largely going unreported. State senators and representatives openly called the trans community demons, imps, predators, and called for the erasure of the LGBTQ community this legislative session. Media outlets are largely not reporting on this/mainly focusing on pride events being canceled, and while that’s obviously terrible, that’s a tiny fraction of the problem.

I wrote this to help spread the word because my friends, family, community, and I are being affected. They are trying to kill us and all I can do is keep screaming and hope that someone hears me.

Please note, this focuses on Florida's anti-LGBTQ laws. Bills targeting immigrants, BIPOC folks, education, how history can be taught in schools, and more were passed this session as well. The NAACP, the League of United Latin American Citizens, Equality Florida, and the Florida Immigrant Coalition have all released travel advisories warning Black, Hispanic, queer people, and immigrants from traveling to the state. I reference some of these laws in this post but don't go in depth on most of them; I'll put some sources at the bottom if you'd like to do further reading.

As of May 22, 2023, here is what's happening in Florida:

Health care

SB 254 (gender affirming care ban)

Gender affirming health care has been dramatically limited/essentially banned for transgender people of ALL ages. This law, SB 254, went into effect immediately upon signing (May 17, 2023).

Youth care was already banned by ruling of the Board of Medicine in February; SB 254 puts it into law. Trans kids who were receiving care prior to the ban have been grandfathered in and can continue their care; no new minors can receive care (puberty blockers, HRT, surgery, etc.).

Physicians and health care workers could be charged with a first-degree misdemeanor for providing gender-affirming care to children not grandfathered in.

Adults who were on HRT/are looking to be put on HRT must get their prescription in person from an MD or DO. (About 80% of trans people in FL were getting care from nurse practitioners/telehealth.)

Adults also must sign an informed consent document created by the Florida Board of Medicine before they can receive care. That document does not yet exist. Some providers are theorizing it may never exist. Another concern is that it could be used to create a state registry of trans people.

As of now, places like Planned Parenthood have had to pause gender affirming care because there is no informed consent document. Pharmacies are (inconsistently) declining refill requests for HRT.

SB 1580 (right to discriminate)

While this bill does not directly reference trans people (that I know of), the “Protections of Medical Conscience Act” — which is colloquially being referred to as the “Let Them Die Act” — allows health care providers or payors to deny service on the basis of “a conscience-based objection.” This includes any ethical, moral, or religious beliefs, and the bill provides no definition for what constitutes a moral or ethical belief.

This bill puts trans, queer, BIPOC, disabled, and otherwise marginalized people at risk of being medically neglected or otherwise discriminated against without repercussions.

Access to public life

HB 1521 (bathrooms)

With the signing of HB 1521, as of July 1, 2023, trans people will be required to use the bathroom that correlates with their sex assigned at birth in certain public areas. These include buildings owned/leased by governmental entities, schools, universities, private colleges, hospitals owned by universities, some sports arenas, convention centers, city parks, beaches, airports, and more.

If a trans person is in a bathroom with a cis person and the cis person complains, an employee can tell the trans person to leave. Refusing to do so would bring a trespassing charge against the trans person. This can carry a sentence of up to a year in jail.

Gender markers/updated birth certificates will not protect trans people from this law. The law says that sex is determined as “indicated by the person’s sex chromosomes, naturally occurring sex hormones, and internal and external genitalia present at birth.”

SB 1438 (drag ban)

This law went into effect immediately upon being signed. It's written vaguely but bans kids and teens from attending certain performances in private venues, such as drag shows (including family-friendly ones).

Additionally, it bans cities, counties and other governments from issuing permits for events that feature drag performers. If this aspect of the law is violated, the organizer of the event would face a first-degree misdemeanor.

The law defines "adult live performances" -- which minors cannot attend -- as a show, exhibition or other presentation that "depicts or simulates nudity, sexual conduct, sexual excitement, (or) specific sexual activities," which include exposing breasts or genitals, "lewd conduct, or the lewd exposure of prosthetic or imitation genitals or breasts" when it's offensive to "prevailing standards" and is "without serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value for the age of the child present."

As a slight side note -- it was during a discussion for this bill's companion House bill that Florida Rep. Randy Fine, a Jewish man who also helped pass a bill against anti-Semitism, characterized queer people as predators and called for the erasure of the LGBTQ community: "If it means erasing a community because you have to target children, then damn right we oughta do it. I just don’t think you have to inherently say 'cause you’re lesbian or gay you have to target children.' I find that statement to be offensive to them."

As of May 22, Treasure Coast Pride, Tampa Pride, and St. Cloud Pride canceled their events/parts of their events as a precaution because of this bill.

Education and families

SB 254 (cont.)

SB 254 allows the state to remove a child from a parent if the child is receiving gender affirming care/if the child is “at risk” of receiving care, or if the parent is trans/suspected of being trans. PLEASE NOTE I am not a parent and I am a little less familiar with this aspect of the law. I believe this only applies in custody cases. Tiktok user @/frogexecutive has been posting a lot about this because they just fled Florida; their page has more info.

HB 1069 (education)

House Bill 1069 expanded the “Don’t Say Gay” bill through 8th grade. It also bans schools from using students’ or teachers’ preferred names or pronouns. It goes into effect on July 1, 2023. Separately, the Board of Education voted to ban the teaching of anything related to gender/sexuality through 12th grade, but that wasn't signed into law. I'm not sure if/how that will be enforced.

*Note: SB 266, Florida's STOP Woke Act, and other bills prohibit public colleges/universities from using funds for diversity and equity programs, impact what can/can't be taught in classrooms, and limit teachings on queerness, race, history, etc. I'm not going in-depth on these bills but if you're interested in education in Florida, those two laws especially are ones to look into.

Further reading

I pulled much of my information from some of these sites (as well as the actual text of the laws). I'm also listing sites with more information on the other laws put in place this session. Please reblog with more sources for info, resources for queer people, etc!

Erin in the Morning (trans reporter)

Alejandra Caraballo (trans instructor/reports on social media)

Report: Trans adults left without care

Don't Say Gay expansion

Equality Florida travel ban + news

Florida teacher being investigated for showing Disney movie with gay character

How anti-trans laws are threatening Florida clinics

Florida anti-immigrant law prompts travel advisory

Diversity and equity ban

NAACP issues travel advisory for Florida

Again, please reblog with more resources, and please feel free to add additional information or correct any errors. And please, please share this. We are fighting for our lives here in Florida.

One final note: Please do not comment telling people to move or making jokes about abandoning Florida/cutting it off/hoping it sinks into the sea. It is full of people who cannot leave. Your glee at the idea of abandoning Florida just hurts those of us who voted against this fascist monster and ended up having to live under his thumb anyway.

#florida #florida trans ban #trans ban #trans healthcare ban #trans health care ban #trans health care #trans bathroom ban #trans bathroom debate #transgender #trans #trans youth #trans medical care #trans rights #trans rights are human rights #drag #drag queen #drag queens #lgbt #lgbtq #lgbt pride #lgbtq pride #ron desantis #trans genocide #fascism #leftist #mutual aid #resources #information

[zinniajones]

FLORIDA HRT CRISIS: SB 254, effective May 17 2023, banned nearly all new HRT prescriptions and refills of existing prescriptions for trans adults, for up to 6 more weeks or until “emergency” state-mandated consent forms are published by the Boards of Medicine.

Trans care bans were never about “protecting children” — they were about making all trans existence completely impossible. See for yourself.

(Full quality version)

Please share to help Florida's trans community survive SB 254!

#SB 254 #SB254 #Florida #tw forced detransition #forced detransition #Florida SB 254 #Ron DeSantis #DeSantis administration #HRT #hormone therapy #denial of medical care #trans care ban #Florida trans care ban #adult trans care ban

[gwydionmisha]

Now is an excellent time to tell your Democratic Congress Critters trans Healthcare is important

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options:

Call the Capitol Switchboard at [phone] and ask to be connected to the representative of your choice.

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

#Anti-Trans Bans #Trans Rights #Trans Bans #Gender Affirming Care #News

[ghoulpoole]

what you gonna do, ban me?

#fuck your terms of service #trans people are allowed #transgender #trans #ban me i don't even care #predestrogen #justice for predestrogen

[genderqueerpositivity]

South Carolina just released a new law that goes beyond trans youth and instead would ban transgender people up to the age of 21 from receiving gender affirming care. It would criminalize doctors from providing gender affirming care for trans youth as well. It doesn’t stop there though. The bill would also ban informed consent hormone therapy, the most common form of hormone therapy for all transgender adults, and would require psychiatrists to sign off on gender affirming care - a model of care that has been outdated since the 1990s. It bans public funds for gender affirming care. It bans comprehensive health programs from encouraging transition for trans students. Lastly, it forces teachers to out students who they even suspect are trans to their parents. This is an absolutely devastating bill, and if it is allowed to go through, it would dramatically harm many trans youth in the state.

#transphobia #anti trans legislation #trans healthcare bans #south carolina #gender affirming care #trans #transgender #lgbtqia #nonbinary #genderqueer #informed consent #informed consent hrt

[highintensity-dyke]

Ohio and Michigan GOP members accidentally posted a private discussion of how they plan to totally ban gender affirming care for children and adults

#transgender #trans rights #gender affirming care ban #gender affirming care #trans #nonbinary #genderqueer #transmasc #transfem #us politics #Youtube

[dontmeantobepoliticalbut]

A Nebraska Republican state senator who voted for a combined anti-trans and anti-abortion bill that passed by one vote in the legislature has admitted that she didn’t pay attention to the issue.

State Senator Christy Armendariz represents the 18th District in the state.

Writing for New York magazine, journalist Lila Shapiro said that the Senator “led me to a bench in an empty hallway” to say that she “found it puzzling that a reporter from New York would come all the way to Nebraska to cover this affair.”

“I don’t watch the news or get the newspaper,” she told the magazine. “Is there anything going on I should be aware of?”

The writer told Ms. Armendariz that other states have passed other similar bills restricting trans and women’s reproductive rights and that an appeals court on the federal level in the Nebraska circuit had ruled that one of them was unconstitutional.

“So is it a big widespread thing?” she asked the writer, adding that regular Nebraska residents were unaware of the issue.

“I knocked doors for a year, and nobody brought this up,” the Senator said, adding that she wished that the legislation had never been brought to the floor.

For three months, a group of lawmakers in the state ground nearly all legislative business in the state to a halt, grabbing the nation’s attention with a remarkable filibuster to stifle a bill that would end gender-affirming care for young transgender people.

Late Tuesday 16 May, Republican lawmakers broke through, advancing a bill that not only bans gender-affirming care for trans people under 19 years old but also tacks on an amendment to outlaw abortion after roughly 10 weeks of pregnancy and hands the state’s GOP-appointed medical officer the authority to set the rules for affirming care for trans youth.

Hundreds of protesters filled the capital in Lincoln, standing outside the doors and in the gallery above lawmakers while chanting “one more vote to save our lives”; only one Senator would have had to defect from supporters of the bill to kill the legislation.

The vote – on the 78th day of a 90-day session – followed a series of manoeuvres that opponents argued were bending and breaking the rules of the state legislature to hammer through the legislation and avert the filibuster, which would allow opponents to occupy their allotted time to speak the bill to death.

“What you are attempting to do today is the lowest of the absolute lows,” state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh, who spearheaded the filibuster, told Republican lawmakers.

“You literally have to cheat at every moment of this debate in every possible way … You are allowing it to happen,” she added. “You do literally have blood on your hands, and if you vote for it, you will have buckets.”

State Senator Megan Hunt, the first openly LGBT+ member of the state legislature and the mother of a trans child, lambasted lawmakers for their “escape routes” from the capitol to avoid facing protesters.

“If you can’t go out and face them, you are not worthy,” she said. “Your legacy is filth.”

Protesters surrounded the state capitol chambers in Lincoln again on 19 May, chanting “keep your bans off our bodies” and “save our lives” as lawmakers made their final round of votes on the bill, which passed 33-15. The bill reached the exact number of votes needed to pass.

Republican Governor Jim Pillen signed it into law on Monday.

“We are working to inspire Nebraskans to get in the game so that abortion is simply unthinkable in the state of Nebraska,” Mr. Pillen said, according to WOWT.

He called the legislation “the most significant win for [the] social conservative agenda that over a generation has seen in Nebraska. I think that’s something we need to clap and shout about.”

At a show in Nebraska hours after the vote on Friday night, the artist Lizzo lambasted the legislation from the stage. “It really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them,” she said.

“Don’t let anyone tell you who you are. ... These laws are not real. You are what’s real, and you deserve to be protected,” she said.

“Hat tip to Senator Armendariz, who says she doesn’t know anything about the issue, doesn’t pay attention to current events, and wishes the bill she voted for hadn’t been introduced. It passed by 1 vote,” wrote Ari Kohen, a political science professor at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

“These are the people who devoted an entire legislative session to taking away people’s rights in the face of massive opposition from experts and ordinary citizens. They openly admit that none of their constituents mentioned this issue to them and they don’t know much about it,” he added. “We have a handful of legislators who care enough to listen and learn. And then we have the majority, who seem not to know or care what they’re doing as long as it feels right to them and they have the votes to do it. Awful.”

The Independent has requested comment from Ms. Armendariz.

#us politics #news #the independent #Nebraska #republicans #conservatives #Christy Armendariz #new york magazine #Lila Shapiro #gender-affirming care #gender-affirming care bans #trans healthcare #trans healthcare ban #abortions #abortion bans #reproductive rights #reproductive health #Machaela Cavanaugh #Megan Hunt #gov. Jim Pillen #WOWT #Lizzo #celebs #celebrities #music #Ari Kohen #tweet #twitter #2023 #lgbtqia+ rights

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

#us politics #news #twitter #tweet #alejandra caraballo #department of justice #biden administration #ag merrick garland #tennessee republicans #Tennessee #gender affirming care bans #gender affirming healthcare #trans healthcare #trans healthcare ban #transgender healthcare #transgender #transgender rights #2023