Nebraska Unicameral Legislation in Question:
This entry is in opposition to the disrespectfully named bill:
LB89 - Adopt the Stand With Women Act <---- this is bullshit
Which puts the very small number of transgender and nonbinary athletes at risk of being in the wrong locker room b/c narrow minded people think gender is a binary.
https://nebraskalegislature.gov/bills/view_bill.php?DocumentID=58025&docnum=LB89&leg=109
I've written to my own state senator and ALL state senators multiple times on this issue.
Recently, I wrote an email with questions, and one lovely senator in opposition replied:
Thank you for the email and for taking time to share your opposition with LB89. I don't always have time to respond to folks who live outside of my district (LDXX in XX), but I have to say your opening line made me laugh - I sometimes wish I could share such remarks on the mic during debate. Like you, I'm opposed to LB89, and I will try my best to stop this bill from advancing. I'll never stop fighting for safe and inclusive communities.
Here was my email sent 4/20/25 (Easter morning) to ALL Nebraska Unicameral Senators:
Greetings, Senators,
I hope this day finds you well. Unless you are supporting LB89. Then I hope it finds you having doubts. If you support LB89, please look in the mirror and ask yourself:
Why am I so concerned about other people’s genitals?
What is lacking in my life that I need to harass the youth of this state and their family and friends and allies?
Why do I think that policing anyone’s genitals makes girls and women safer, when it just puts them at risk?
Why am I unable to grasp the reality that trans and nonbinary people have existed since the dawn of time?
Why do I want to treat them as less than human and put them in harm’s way when they just want to safely use the restroom and live their lives?
What would I do if someone told me I was in the wrong restroom and started yelling at me?
Why am I willing to waste the time, money, and resources of this state to harass perhaps less than 10 transgender and nonbinary youth in Nebraska sports when the NSAA already has policies in place, when schools already support their students?
Why can’t I see that I am hurting large populations of this state who are transgender, nonbinary, queer, or allies when I support hateful, discriminatory, unnecessary, legislation?
Why do I say I support freedom when I am working to take away basic human rights and dignities?
Why do I say I want a small government, when it ends up just being small-minded?
Why do I attack transgender and nonbinary people, just like the Nazis did?
Why can’t I make space for others and defend their rights and freedoms when I’ve taken an oath to do so?
I write to you from District XX, in opposition to LB89. I am an ally and have transgender and nonbinary people in my family and friend group, right in the state of Nebraska and beyond. What you do affects all of us.
Please oppose LB89 and further your education on LGBTQ+ existence. Please do some soul-searching to unalign yourselves with hateful, harmful rhetoric and the sowers of ill will. We deserve better than LB89 and bills like it that strip away rights and dignities.
Another senator, we'll call him Senator Z, next to my district, was not so amused. Here was his response on 4/23/25:
Thank you for your email. Allow me to respond to your questions, many of which I find inaccurate.1). I am concerned about other people’s genitals when they insist on being in the same locker room with little girls.2). What is lacking in my life? Certainly, morals are not lacking. I find it highly immoral when trans people want to push their agenda on young people.3). Risk? I find it a risk to continue to push the liberal agenda upon everyone. Please understand! If you are a transperson - that is fine. Do not expect everyone to buy into your ideals. If you have a child who is trans - I am sorry. But other people do not have to change their beliefs to buy into yours. My education with LGBT issues begins with my faith. While I have compassion for all young people who may suffer from mental illness or from gender dysphoria, I do not have compassion for adults who continue to push their agendas on people who believe differently.
If you know me, I couldn't let that glibness go unanswered. I spent more than 2 hours last night (4/23/25) crafting my reply.
Greetings, Senator Z,
Wow what an interesting response. I see you did not answer a number of my questions, but let me respond to those you did answer.
I'm including my own Senator Q on here, b/c I see he voted to push LB89 forward, which is so very disappointing to me.
I know this is a long email, but please bear with me. I'm trying to get a sense of what you actually believe, because your answers lacked depth to give me a sense of your true values. You're about 11 years younger than my father, but seem to share some interests with him.
Your answers were off-putting, and seemed to come from misinformation, fear, and a lack of exposure to others, but I'd like to extend the benefit of the doubt to you. Perhaps you are the type of person that, when you have made a mistake, you can admit you were wrong and apologize. Or that perhaps if you've been operating under misconceptions, you might be open to learning, accepting new information, and changing course. I don't know if those are attributes you take pride in, but I'll proceed, hoping that could be the case.
Question 1 for Senators who support LB89 from Scribble Scribe:
Why am I so concerned about other people’s genitals?
Wow what an interesting response. I see you did not answer a number of my questions, but let me respond to those you did answer.
I'm including my own Senator Q on here, b/c I see he voted to push LB89 forward, which is so very disappointing to me.
I know this is a long email, but please bear with me. I'm trying to get a sense of what you actually believe, because your answers lacked depth to give me a sense of your true values. You're about 11 years younger than my father, but seem to share some interests with him.
Your answers were off-putting, and seemed to come from misinformation, fear, and a lack of exposure to others, but I'd like to extend the benefit of the doubt to you. Perhaps you are the type of person that, when you have made a mistake, you can admit you were wrong and apologize. Or that perhaps if you've been operating under misconceptions, you might be open to learning, accepting new information, and changing course. I don't know if those are attributes you take pride in, but I'll proceed, hoping that could be the case.
Question 1 for Senators who support LB89 from Scribble Scribe:
Why am I so concerned about other people’s genitals?
Answer 1 from Senator Z:
I am concerned about other people’s genitals when they insist on being in the same locker room with little girls.
Response 1 from Scribble Scribe:
You seem to be viewing trans and nonbinary people's need to use a restroom as predatory instead people who just need to relieve themselves, and in the case of LB89, have a place to change to get ready to compete in their sport of choice. You might want to ask yourself why you view them, in this case, transgender and nonbinary youth, as predators. It's such an odd generalization to have of a small group of people you don't actually know. Seems like you are operating from lack of familiarity and "othering" people.
This sounds like you have created some odd scenarios in your mind. As a youth, I faced harassment from other girls in the locker rooms. None of them were transgender or nonbinary to my knowledge at the time, but were cisgender girls with a cruel streak. I don't view all cisgendered women as bullies.
Where is your fear coming from? I'm viewing your landing page for the NE Legislature because I wanted to learn who I was writing to. I see you were a wrestling coach. Did you often find people trying to get into locker rooms for the purpose of assault? If you're concerned about "little girls," that might mean to me that you are worried about boys or grown men trying to get into locker rooms. Did this often happen? Could it be that you are actually more worried about cisgender men as predators? If so, this bill does not address that.
I'm not an athletic person, but my understanding of youth competing in sports is that they have to work really hard and show up to practices and competitions to put in the time and work. They have to sacrifice time with friends, put homework aside, put their body through endurance training and be a part of a team. I don't think someone is going to do all of that if they simply have the aim of assaulting someone.
When you were a wrestling coach, I'm going to guess for perhaps boys only, did you have boys acting inappropriately with each other? So in theory, they all have the same genitalia. Might it not be about genitalia, then?
Also, in case you don't understand what it means to be a transgender or nonbinary youth, let me give you a little bit of knowledge. Let's say there is a child at school who transitioned socially (meaning, hair, clothing, perhaps hormone blockers), with the support of their parents. (A note on hormone blockers, or what I have learned while following these anti-trans bills for the past few years.... hormone blockers are also used with cisgender children too, as when an 8 year old starts early puberty, and her guardians and doctor want to hold off that stage for a few years so she can match her peers.)
So, this child that transitioned socially from a young age, let's say they are now 16, perhaps born a girl but started socially transitioning early, and have only been known as a male at their school. With LB89, you are going to require this person who is known to their peers as a boy to be in the same locker room with a bunch of teen girls. OR, a teen who was born as a boy, but has presented as a girl. You want this person, who is known as a girl at their school, to enter the boy's locker room.
Do you see the issue here? You are asking transgender and nonbinary students, who may not be "out" at their schools to put themselves in harm's way. You're asking them to use a restroom that is not appropriate for them. To what end? To appease your unfounded, and illogical fear that every trans or nonbinary person is somehow a predator? If that fear is motivating you, that is an issue for YOU to delve into in therapy, and not to transpose on transgender and nonbinary students who just want to represent their school in a sport.
Question 2 for Senators who support LB89 from Scribble Scribe:
What is lacking in my life that I need to harass the youth of this state and their family and friends and allies?
Answer 2 from Senator Z:
Certainly, morals are not lacking. I find it highly immoral when trans people want to push their agenda on young people.
Response 2 from Scribble Scribe:
Part 1 to your statement:
You identify very strongly as a person with morals. Okay. Good. Having a moral compass is helpful. A set of morals provides a necessary guide for people as they navigate the world around them. I have very strong morals myself and am proud of that, too. For example, I do not support discrimination, fearmongering, or intentional misinformation, or scapegoating of minorities. I support education, equity, self-acceptance, interconnectedness, to name a few.
However, it seems you are insinuating that anyone who is LGBTQ+ is immoral. Or do you just take umbrage specifically with transgender and nonbinary people's existence? Do you think they lack morals, just for the fact that they are transgender or nonbinary? Are you generalizing a whole group of people and stating that they don't have morals or are de facto immoral by their existence?
I find that very harsh and a false equivalency. And quite frightening from a State Senator, elected to represent a district that almost definitely has transgender and nonbinary constituents. Have you ever met any of them? Did you talk at length with any of them? What did they say or do that led you to believe they were "immoral"? How long generally do you need to speak with someone to judge whether they have morals, no morals, or just a different world view and life experience from your own?
Do you think if someone lives differently, they should be judged by you or anyone else? To what aim? Do you think they should have less rights than other people? Do you think their needs for safety and respect and food and shelter and the like are diminished because you have made a judgement about their morals after whatever length of time you have deemed appropriate? Or do you hear a label like "transgender" or "nonbinary" and decide you have all the information you need to make a judgement on their morals? Or are morals perhaps more complex than saying "moral/immoral" if it doesn't match your own?
What are cases in which you've accepted other groups of people that live differently than yourself, yet you've still decided they have morals? Do people of other faiths have morals? Do people that don't profess faith have morals? How does a person prove they have morals? What morals don't hold value to you? If they are morals that others hold dear, but not morals you hold, does that other person seem "moral" or "immoral" to you? Why do you get to decide that?
Part 2 to Answer 2:
So you think that transgender and nonbinary youth are created or formed by someone else's agenda? You think that transgender people are pushing an agenda on the youth, perhaps to create more transgender or nonbinary people? Or do you believe in more sinister aims? I won't try to imagine those.
How many transgender and nonbinary people do you know personally? Anyone in your family? In your friend group? In your church? Amongst your children's friends? Grandchildren's friends?
From the people in my life, I can tell you, the trans agenda is TO SURVIVE. To THRIVE. To live a happy life, safe in a world that is fearful of them, a world that often brutally attacks and leaves trans people dead. I encourage you to look up some statistics on attacks against trans and nonbinary/gender non-conforming people. Queer people. It's heartbreaking.
The queer agenda is to be themselves, to have the same opportunities as cisgendered people to create a home for themselves, to get an education, to have a family, to be loved and accepted by the people who want them in their lives. To be called by the name they love to hear. To be loved and protected and celebrated. To be allowed to have moments of weakness and failure, because we are all imperfect people. To navigate life that is hard for anyone. To get financial security. To be able to eat, take care of their body. To be able to celebrate their body and love what they see in the mirror. To fall in love with someone who sees them on a soul-level. To have the joy they deserve. To travel safely. To be able to use a restroom without fear. To make it to old age.
Maybe you see it as an agenda being pushed on young people because you don't recall this type of visibility when you were growing up. You didn't see the pride and self-love and self-acceptance that we have today, which to me is a beautiful and special thing. The reason you didn't see that, the reason it seemed no one was "out", was because it wasn't safe. It's because the cisgender, heteronormative agenda was what was pushed on the youth. Maybe you're bristling at the words "cisgender, heteronormative", but it's the proper label for when your dad, grandpa, or uncles, or maybe the adult women too, chided you or other boys and said "don't be a sissy/pansy/wuss." or "Only little girls cry. Are you a little girl?" or maybe they said nasty things about girls or women. About how they should dress or behave. Or what they "needed". Gross things.
Even if you were only ever straight and cisgendered, I know hearing those things had an effect on you. They shaped you. And maybe you were able to brush it off. But you KNOW, you have to know, that there were people around that WERE different. And you have to think, how did that affect them, to hear adults insinuate there was something wrong with them? Hearing that they were different and that it was shameful. How would that affect you? How could you go about your day to day being made to feel less worthy of love? That you needed to be different from what you were to be accepted? THAT is a dangerous agenda.
I bet you know young men and women that killed themselves. Did you know in your heart it was because they were queer and couldn't fit in? The suicide rates of queer people are unfortunate. But it's higher among those who grow up with the agenda of hatred forced upon them. When you push anti-trans laws, you are contributing to making a hostile environment for these youth and adults.
It's an extraordinary act to be authentically oneself when society tells you to hate yourself, and to subject yourself to their rules.
THE QUEER AGENDA IS TO SURVIVE.
It may look subversive to you, may look like "kids are just doing it because it's a fad, or XYZ" reason you've heard. It may look manufactured or dangerous. But it's more dangerous to not let people explore themselves and express themselves and have safety. QUEER PEOPLE DESERVE TO LIVE. THEY DESERVE TO BE WHO THEY ARE. THEY DESERVE TO BE PROTECTED. Queer Youth deserve to grow into adults, even if they stay queer or not.
Question 3 for Senators who support LB89 from Scribble Scribe:
You identify very strongly as a person with morals. Okay. Good. Having a moral compass is helpful. A set of morals provides a necessary guide for people as they navigate the world around them. I have very strong morals myself and am proud of that, too. For example, I do not support discrimination, fearmongering, or intentional misinformation, or scapegoating of minorities. I support education, equity, self-acceptance, interconnectedness, to name a few.
However, it seems you are insinuating that anyone who is LGBTQ+ is immoral. Or do you just take umbrage specifically with transgender and nonbinary people's existence? Do you think they lack morals, just for the fact that they are transgender or nonbinary? Are you generalizing a whole group of people and stating that they don't have morals or are de facto immoral by their existence?
I find that very harsh and a false equivalency. And quite frightening from a State Senator, elected to represent a district that almost definitely has transgender and nonbinary constituents. Have you ever met any of them? Did you talk at length with any of them? What did they say or do that led you to believe they were "immoral"? How long generally do you need to speak with someone to judge whether they have morals, no morals, or just a different world view and life experience from your own?
Do you think if someone lives differently, they should be judged by you or anyone else? To what aim? Do you think they should have less rights than other people? Do you think their needs for safety and respect and food and shelter and the like are diminished because you have made a judgement about their morals after whatever length of time you have deemed appropriate? Or do you hear a label like "transgender" or "nonbinary" and decide you have all the information you need to make a judgement on their morals? Or are morals perhaps more complex than saying "moral/immoral" if it doesn't match your own?
What are cases in which you've accepted other groups of people that live differently than yourself, yet you've still decided they have morals? Do people of other faiths have morals? Do people that don't profess faith have morals? How does a person prove they have morals? What morals don't hold value to you? If they are morals that others hold dear, but not morals you hold, does that other person seem "moral" or "immoral" to you? Why do you get to decide that?
Part 2 to Answer 2:
So you think that transgender and nonbinary youth are created or formed by someone else's agenda? You think that transgender people are pushing an agenda on the youth, perhaps to create more transgender or nonbinary people? Or do you believe in more sinister aims? I won't try to imagine those.
How many transgender and nonbinary people do you know personally? Anyone in your family? In your friend group? In your church? Amongst your children's friends? Grandchildren's friends?
From the people in my life, I can tell you, the trans agenda is TO SURVIVE. To THRIVE. To live a happy life, safe in a world that is fearful of them, a world that often brutally attacks and leaves trans people dead. I encourage you to look up some statistics on attacks against trans and nonbinary/gender non-conforming people. Queer people. It's heartbreaking.
The queer agenda is to be themselves, to have the same opportunities as cisgendered people to create a home for themselves, to get an education, to have a family, to be loved and accepted by the people who want them in their lives. To be called by the name they love to hear. To be loved and protected and celebrated. To be allowed to have moments of weakness and failure, because we are all imperfect people. To navigate life that is hard for anyone. To get financial security. To be able to eat, take care of their body. To be able to celebrate their body and love what they see in the mirror. To fall in love with someone who sees them on a soul-level. To have the joy they deserve. To travel safely. To be able to use a restroom without fear. To make it to old age.
Maybe you see it as an agenda being pushed on young people because you don't recall this type of visibility when you were growing up. You didn't see the pride and self-love and self-acceptance that we have today, which to me is a beautiful and special thing. The reason you didn't see that, the reason it seemed no one was "out", was because it wasn't safe. It's because the cisgender, heteronormative agenda was what was pushed on the youth. Maybe you're bristling at the words "cisgender, heteronormative", but it's the proper label for when your dad, grandpa, or uncles, or maybe the adult women too, chided you or other boys and said "don't be a sissy/pansy/wuss." or "Only little girls cry. Are you a little girl?" or maybe they said nasty things about girls or women. About how they should dress or behave. Or what they "needed". Gross things.
Even if you were only ever straight and cisgendered, I know hearing those things had an effect on you. They shaped you. And maybe you were able to brush it off. But you KNOW, you have to know, that there were people around that WERE different. And you have to think, how did that affect them, to hear adults insinuate there was something wrong with them? Hearing that they were different and that it was shameful. How would that affect you? How could you go about your day to day being made to feel less worthy of love? That you needed to be different from what you were to be accepted? THAT is a dangerous agenda.
I bet you know young men and women that killed themselves. Did you know in your heart it was because they were queer and couldn't fit in? The suicide rates of queer people are unfortunate. But it's higher among those who grow up with the agenda of hatred forced upon them. When you push anti-trans laws, you are contributing to making a hostile environment for these youth and adults.
It's an extraordinary act to be authentically oneself when society tells you to hate yourself, and to subject yourself to their rules.
THE QUEER AGENDA IS TO SURVIVE.
It may look subversive to you, may look like "kids are just doing it because it's a fad, or XYZ" reason you've heard. It may look manufactured or dangerous. But it's more dangerous to not let people explore themselves and express themselves and have safety. QUEER PEOPLE DESERVE TO LIVE. THEY DESERVE TO BE WHO THEY ARE. THEY DESERVE TO BE PROTECTED. Queer Youth deserve to grow into adults, even if they stay queer or not.
Question 3 for Senators who support LB89 from Scribble Scribe:
Why do I think that policing anyone’s genitals makes girls and women safer, when it just puts them at risk?
Answer 3 from Senator Z:
3). Risk? I find it a risk to continue to push the liberal agenda upon everyone. Please understand! If you are a transperson - that is fine. Do not expect everyone to buy into your ideals. If you have a child who is trans - I am sorry. But other people do not have to change their beliefs to buy into yours. My education with LGBT issues begins with my faith. While I have compassion for all young people who may suffer from mental illness or from gender dysphoria, I do not have compassion for adults who continue to push their agendas on people who believe differently.
Response 3 from Scribble Scribe:
See notes about "agenda" in above response.
You don't want everyone to "buy into [trans] ideals". It shouldn't be considered an optional "ideal" for transgender and nonbinary people to have equal rights. It's the law. LB89 is discriminatory.
If you have a child who is trans - I am sorry. Can you just sit with your statement for a moment? Do you have any idea of how insulting that comment is? Parents/families who love their transgender/nonbinary children aren't sorry their children are transgender or nonbinary. They're sorry that their children can't safely be who they are without people like you, trying to denigrate and demonize their existence. How terribly awful for you to say, as a parent, and I assume grandparent. If you have any trans/nonbinary/queer people in your family, I feel sorry for THEM. Knowing that you carry such limited, and insulting views of people like them. I REALLY hope you educate yourself so you can emerge from this a better, more loving, more accepting, safer person for the people in your life.
My education with LGBT issues begins with my faith. - Perhaps your education with LGBTQ+ "issues" should begin with the PEOPLE themselves. You seem to lack a lot of information. And hiding behind your faith is not a good advertisement for your faith. I know PLENTY of people of faith, some in leadership roles, who support and celebrate LGBTQ+ peoples and are champions for their equal rights in face of discrimination such as this.
While I have compassion for all young people who may suffer from mental illness or from gender dysphoria,.... Being Transgender and nonbinary IS NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS. I'll refer you to the American Psychological Association. I'm not sure my email will come through if I put a link, but it's an article from 2008 titled: "Understanding transgender people, gender identity and gender expression" updated July 8, 2024. You need to educate yourself on an issue you clearly struggle with understanding. And you should NOT be creating laws about things you don't understand. Now that you KNOW it's not a mental illness, I expect you will not say it again. And I expect that when it comes up in conversation, you will inform others that it's not a mental illness. Because now you know better. And you want to be a truthful person, right? Is that part of your faith or set of morals? It is for me.
I do not have compassion for adults who continue to push their agendas on people who believe differently. Agreed. I hate when elected officials push their religions into law, instead of respecting the wide variety of beliefs of their constituents. I especially have no patience when the agenda that others push is incorrect, outdated, and discriminatory. Namely the agenda that supporters of LB89 seem to have - the ill-begotten idea that human gender is a binary. It is not. I do not have patience when religion or faith is used as a weapon, or a means to justify discrimination.
If you've actually read to the end of this, you'll notice I'm less wordy. I'm tired. I've spent almost 2 hours by this point, trying to instruct a person who is supposed to vote with the safety and well-being of their constituents in mind, but they are lacking knowledge. They are pushing their own agendas without seeing the irony or hypocrisy. They are targeting a handful of young athletes and ignoring the outcry of the damage they are doing.
Does your faith tell you to hurt and discriminate? Does your faith tell you to ignore the hurt you are causing when you are being specifically told YOU ARE HURTING US?
Other tidbits I'd like to share:
I've seen news reports about women who look butch or "manly" that they've been harassed while in the women's restroom. So, guess what? Policing restrooms based on perceived gender DOESN'T MAKE WOMEN SAFE.
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE RESTROOMS. Just like it wasn't about water fountains for segregation.
Learn from the mistakes of the past. Do better.
Sadly, your overall message by the questions you chose to answer made you appear to be anti-trans. You didn't really have much to say about the merits of the bill. Or any statistics to prove it was sensible.
If you are anti-trans, and are using faith as a means to discriminate, I really don't find you to be a safe legislator. I really hope you can do some praying, if that's what you're into, to open your heart. But you really need to educate yourself.
Now for questions you didn't answer.....
again, I ask, if you only answer another one, #7, #8 Maybe #4
Answer 3 from Senator Z:
3). Risk? I find it a risk to continue to push the liberal agenda upon everyone. Please understand! If you are a transperson - that is fine. Do not expect everyone to buy into your ideals. If you have a child who is trans - I am sorry. But other people do not have to change their beliefs to buy into yours. My education with LGBT issues begins with my faith. While I have compassion for all young people who may suffer from mental illness or from gender dysphoria, I do not have compassion for adults who continue to push their agendas on people who believe differently.
Response 3 from Scribble Scribe:
See notes about "agenda" in above response.
You don't want everyone to "buy into [trans] ideals". It shouldn't be considered an optional "ideal" for transgender and nonbinary people to have equal rights. It's the law. LB89 is discriminatory.
If you have a child who is trans - I am sorry. Can you just sit with your statement for a moment? Do you have any idea of how insulting that comment is? Parents/families who love their transgender/nonbinary children aren't sorry their children are transgender or nonbinary. They're sorry that their children can't safely be who they are without people like you, trying to denigrate and demonize their existence. How terribly awful for you to say, as a parent, and I assume grandparent. If you have any trans/nonbinary/queer people in your family, I feel sorry for THEM. Knowing that you carry such limited, and insulting views of people like them. I REALLY hope you educate yourself so you can emerge from this a better, more loving, more accepting, safer person for the people in your life.
My education with LGBT issues begins with my faith. - Perhaps your education with LGBTQ+ "issues" should begin with the PEOPLE themselves. You seem to lack a lot of information. And hiding behind your faith is not a good advertisement for your faith. I know PLENTY of people of faith, some in leadership roles, who support and celebrate LGBTQ+ peoples and are champions for their equal rights in face of discrimination such as this.
While I have compassion for all young people who may suffer from mental illness or from gender dysphoria,.... Being Transgender and nonbinary IS NOT A MENTAL ILLNESS. I'll refer you to the American Psychological Association. I'm not sure my email will come through if I put a link, but it's an article from 2008 titled: "Understanding transgender people, gender identity and gender expression" updated July 8, 2024. You need to educate yourself on an issue you clearly struggle with understanding. And you should NOT be creating laws about things you don't understand. Now that you KNOW it's not a mental illness, I expect you will not say it again. And I expect that when it comes up in conversation, you will inform others that it's not a mental illness. Because now you know better. And you want to be a truthful person, right? Is that part of your faith or set of morals? It is for me.
I do not have compassion for adults who continue to push their agendas on people who believe differently. Agreed. I hate when elected officials push their religions into law, instead of respecting the wide variety of beliefs of their constituents. I especially have no patience when the agenda that others push is incorrect, outdated, and discriminatory. Namely the agenda that supporters of LB89 seem to have - the ill-begotten idea that human gender is a binary. It is not. I do not have patience when religion or faith is used as a weapon, or a means to justify discrimination.
If you've actually read to the end of this, you'll notice I'm less wordy. I'm tired. I've spent almost 2 hours by this point, trying to instruct a person who is supposed to vote with the safety and well-being of their constituents in mind, but they are lacking knowledge. They are pushing their own agendas without seeing the irony or hypocrisy. They are targeting a handful of young athletes and ignoring the outcry of the damage they are doing.
Does your faith tell you to hurt and discriminate? Does your faith tell you to ignore the hurt you are causing when you are being specifically told YOU ARE HURTING US?
Other tidbits I'd like to share:
I've seen news reports about women who look butch or "manly" that they've been harassed while in the women's restroom. So, guess what? Policing restrooms based on perceived gender DOESN'T MAKE WOMEN SAFE.
IT'S NOT ABOUT THE RESTROOMS. Just like it wasn't about water fountains for segregation.
Learn from the mistakes of the past. Do better.
Sadly, your overall message by the questions you chose to answer made you appear to be anti-trans. You didn't really have much to say about the merits of the bill. Or any statistics to prove it was sensible.
If you are anti-trans, and are using faith as a means to discriminate, I really don't find you to be a safe legislator. I really hope you can do some praying, if that's what you're into, to open your heart. But you really need to educate yourself.
Now for questions you didn't answer.....
again, I ask, if you only answer another one, #7, #8 Maybe #4
Why am I so concerned about other people’s genitals?
What is lacking in my life that I need to harass the youth of this state and their family and friends and allies?
Why do I think that policing anyone’s genitals makes girls and women safer, when it just puts them at risk?
Why am I unable to grasp the reality that trans and nonbinary people have existed since the dawn of time?
Why do I want to treat them as less than human and put them in harm’s way when they just want to safely use the restroom and live their lives?
What would I do if someone told me I was in the wrong restroom and started yelling at me?
Why am I willing to waste the time, money, and resources of this state to harass perhaps less than 10 transgender and nonbinary youth in Nebraska sports when the NSAA already has policies in place, when schools already support their students?
Why can’t I see that I am hurting large populations of this state who are transgender, nonbinary, queer, or allies when I support hateful, discriminatory, unnecessary, legislation?
Why do I say I support freedom when I am working to take away basic human rights and dignities?
Why do I say I want a small government, when it ends up just being small-minded?
Why do I attack transgender and nonbinary people, just like the Nazis did?
Why can’t I make space for others and defend their rights and freedoms when I’ve taken an oath to do so?
So, now that I've spent 2+ hours trying to give you a different perspective, inspire you to self-educate, to think about your misconceptions, your improper labels about mental illness, has anything shifted for you?
It would be easy for you to write me off as a 'crazy liberal' or something, but I want you to understand. I have very strong morals. I have loyalty to my friends and family. I will fight for them and their rights, even if it feels like I'm wasting my breath and my time. Because QUEER PEOPLE MATTER TO ME. And doing the right thing matters. Fighting against discrimination and injustice, and ignorance, THOSE ARE MY MORALS. At the end of the day, the end of this literal day, I want to be able to say I tried. That I fought for what is good and right. That I can look my friends and family in the eyes and say, I did what I could to use logic, compassion, and a belief in what's right to stick up for you.
I really hope that this lengthy email has caused you to pause. To think about how your flippant answers reveal your lack, the spaces where you can still grow and educate yourself, be a person, a senator who listens and can admit they were wrong and change course.
I implore you, PLEASE OPPOSE LB 89. Talk to your fellow supporters of LB89 and let them know you are all wrong. Listen to the people of Nebraska, cisgendered and not. SAY NO TO LB89 AND OTHER DISCRIMINATORY BILLS.
Thank you.
We'll see if that gets any response. ;)
