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Who is Machaela Cavanaugh? Nebraska Dem likens LB574 to 'genocide' as she brings state to screeching halt

Bill LB574 'would restrict gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy and surgeries for those under 19'

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA: The debate on a measure to outlaw surgery for transgender adolescents and young people began in Nebraska on Tuesday after a filibuster by a bill opponent prevented a vote for three weeks. After Kathleen Kauth, a Republican who also represents Omaha in the state senate, introduced the bill, Machaela Cavanaugh, a Democrat, started her obstruction.

LB574, a bill submitted on January 17, "would restrict gender-affirming care such as puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgeries for those under 19," and is described as "forbidding gender-affirming care." Cavanaugh and her supporters referred to the proposal as "genocide", and said they would halt the legislative process in protest against the bill as it would damage transgender youngsters. Let's learn who Machaela Cavanaugh is.

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Who is Machaela Cavanaugh?

Machaela Cavanaugh is a candidate for the 6th District (Central, West-Central Omaha) in the Nebraska State Legislature. She is an Omaha native with nearly 20 years of experience in community engagement and public affairs, as per reports. Cavanaugh worked at the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska prior to her stint in the legislature. Before joining the Buffett Institute, Cavanaugh worked as a staff assistant in Washington, DC for Senator Ben Nelson and the American Province of the Servants of Mary and Opera Omaha's director of development, as reported by cavanaughforlegislature.org

'I will burn the session to the ground over this bill'

Cavanaugh, a married mother of three, during the session said, "If this Legislature collectively decides that legislating hate against children is our priority, then I am going to make it painful — painful for everyone." She further added, "Because if you want to inflict pain on our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body. I will burn the session to the ground over this bill."

By submitting amendment after amendment to every bill that reached the state Senate floor and consuming the eight debate hours allotted by the rules, Cavanaugh was successful in stifling the legislative process.

'We're a lot further along the line than we're seeing now'

According to Clerk of the Legislature Brandon Metzler, a delay like this has only occurred a few times in the last ten years. Metzler said, "But what is really uncommon is the lack of bills that have advanced. Usually, we're a lot further along the line than we're seeing now." In the first of the three rounds of debate needed to pass a law in Nebraska, only 26 bills have moved forward. By mid-March, Metzler added, there would typically be two to three times that amount.

'An assault on individuals that members of this body love'

The trans treatment bill, according to Cavanaugh, is "an assault on individuals that members of this body love," and she pleaded with the Republicans to return to their fundamental beliefs about keeping the government out of people's lives, as reported by DailyMail.

The Nebraska bill is one of over 150 pieces of legislation aimed against transgender persons that have been submitted to state legislatures this year. Another would forbid trans people from using bathrooms and locker rooms or participating on sports teams that don't match the gender listed on their birth certificates. Other Republican-led states, such as South Dakota, Utah, and Mississippi, have already passed laws banning gender-affirming child care for minors this year, as reported by PBS.