15-05-2025
Lawmakers narrow, advance bill to define male and female in Nebraska law for school sports
State Sens. Merv Riepe of Ralston and Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area meet on the floor of the Nebraska Legislature. April 22, 2025. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)
LINCOLN — A bill seeking to define 'male' and 'female' in Nebraska law advanced Wednesday for K-12 and collegiate sports teams alone, no longer for school bathrooms, school locker rooms or state agencies.
State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston ultimately supported Legislative Bill 89, the 'Stand With Women Act,' on the condition that his amendment was adopted to limit the bill to sports. He said the amended bill preserves athletic competition without a 'moral panic' against transgender Nebraskans.
'I did not run for office to become part of the 'Nebraska State Potty Patrol,'' said Riepe, who publicly requested the change last month.
Riepe's amendment was adopted 34-8. The bill advanced 33-15.
The 'panic,' Riepe said, 'is no different' than when some people justified 'government overreach' to argue that video games make people violent, rock music leads to devil worship and comic books corrupt youth.
He said 'reason eventually won out' and 'cooler heads prevailed' in those cases.
Under the bill, a student-athlete would need to verify their sex at birth with a doctor's note before they could participate in single-sex sports, which State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of the Millard area, LB 89's sponsor, envisioned would come during a student's physical exam.
Public school sports would be restricted to students' sex assigned at birth, for males or females only, unless coed/mixed. There would be an exception if there is no female equivalent team, such as football. Private schools competing against public institutions would need to do the same.
'Sex' would be defined as whether someone 'naturally has, had, will or would have, but for a congenital anomaly or intentional or unintentional disruption, the reproductive system that at some point produces, transports and utilizes' either eggs (female, woman or girl) or sperm (male, man or boy) for fertilization.
Kauth, who designated LB 89 as her 2025 priority, said her bill was about 'common sense' and 'adherence to biology' while establishing protections for women and girls.
She said she was grateful to Riepe, and while she wished the bill could remain in full, she respected Riepe and said, 'Sometimes making incremental steps is the best way to go.'
Kauth said she would return in 2026 and try again for bathrooms and locker rooms, which Riepe said he would not support. He said LB 89 indirectly took care of locker rooms and that he was against turning the Legislature into a 'vehicle for fear, overreach and culture war crusades.'
'LB 89, as amended, respects that line,' Riepe said during debate. 'It focuses on competition, not surveillance. It protects sports, not panic.'
Gov. Jim Pillen, speaking with the Nebraska Examiner a few weeks ago, said he would accept the pared-back LB 89 'if that's where it ends up.' He said that if a boy goes into a woman's restroom, 'the rest of the boys will take care of him.'
Kauth said LB 89 would prevent that self-policing and that a 'high-trust society' would give faith that someone under her bill is on the right sports team, or as in the larger bill, bathroom.
Some opponents, such as State Sens. Megan Hunt and John Cavanaugh, both of Omaha, have said Kauth's bill would require policing on whether anyone is allowed in the 'right' bathroom or locker room and would be discriminatory against transgender Nebraskans.
Still, opponents to LB 89 did not block Riepe's amendment — State Sens. Jane Raybould of Lincoln and Dan Quick of Grand Island even voted for the amendment, despite not voting to advance the bill later.
Progressives, such as State Sens. Danielle Conrad of Lincoln, Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, George Dungan of Lincoln and Victor Rountree of Bellevue, instead took time to speak directly to transgender Nebraskans and their families, knowing they couldn't stop the bill.
Conrad said that in more than a decade in public life, she'd never seen one group of Nebraskans and their families suddenly 'under attack by their government.' She said opponents would 'lean in with more love and light when faced with darkness.'
'Those of us who stand on the right side of history and in support of human rights will not stop until each member of the human family is afforded equal rights and human rights,' said Conrad, who previously led the ACLU of Nebraska. 'I thank you for your love and compassion in the face of hate and harm.'
Rountree said that as a pastor, he would stand with love 'because Jesus loved us all.'
State Sen. Dan Lonowski of Hastings, a former public school teacher, said the bill wasn't about discrimination and noted that he would often have LGBTQ students eat in his classroom over lunch because they didn't want to eat in the full cafeteria. He said it didn't matter his political affiliation and that it was about giving those students space.
State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte said that if someone wants to be transgender, 'be transgender,' and if they want to play sports, they can, just on the team corresponding to their sex.
Kauth and State Sen. Tanya Storer of Whitman said it was 'shocking' that lawmakers needed to defend women's rights, and Kauth said LB 89 sought to prevent discrimination against women. The pair called out Dungan, who said lawmakers needed to 'shut up' and leave the issue alone.
Storer said it was 'gaslighting' to suggest that supporters had 'hate' in their hearts, which she denied.
'I see the faces of beautiful women disappearing, being erased, so they're supposed to step aside, be quiet, sit down, shut up, for fear of being called out for 'hating,'' Storer said.
She added: 'You can defend the rights of women and not hate transgender, and I don't hate anyone.'
Sen. John Cavanaugh said he didn't think the problem was 'hatred' or 'discrimination,' while he thought there might be some 'misunderstanding' of what 'discrimination' means legally.
'I think this is an unwillingness to get to know people,' he said.
Hunt said children just wanted 'the freedom to play with their friends without being politicized.' Dungan said 'all they're asking is to be left alone.'
Cavanaugh pointed to the biblical commandment to 'love thy neighbor as thyself,' and that when he met families who would be hurt by LB 89, they were 'just regular Nebraska families.' He said that while with Riepe's amendment the bill is 'less harmful,' trans children would still be hurt.
'If people have hurt your feelings by saying that you are 'hateful' and 'discriminatory,' then I'm sorry,' Cavanaugh said, 'but do not take that out on these children.'
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