The issue hits close to home for Hunt, another state senator from Omaha, who’s fighting for her own trans child. “We’ve made it clear that this is a line in the sand. People have said, What if we go after your bills? What if we put a bunch of bills introduced by progressives on the agenda, are you going to filibuster those too? Yeah. Yes, because we’re not like you. We have a principle and a value that actually matters that much to use that we’re willing to stand up for,” she told the legislature.

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Hunt continued with a defense that I want to see from all lawmakers:

“This bill harms me in an unforgivable way. This is a line you don’t cross with me. If you cross it today you’re staying on other side of it, because you have done irreparable harm. You’re doing harm to the body and Nebraska as well. Don’t say hi to me in the hall. Don’t ask me how my weekend was. Don’t walk my desk and ask me anything. Don’t send me Christmas cards. Take me off the list. You don’t know me. We have no relationship. And if you don’t believe me, if you think I’m going to cool down and change my mind? You should believe me. No one in the world holds a grudge like me. And no one in the world cares less about being petty than me. I don’t care. I don’t like you. You aren’t welcome in my space. You aren’t’ a safe person for my child to be around or any child frankly. Don’t believe me? You should.”

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I have spent hours trying to put it into words how gratifying it is to see a lawmaker actually defend trans people. This act of solidarity is up there with the congresspeople who voted to pass the Affordable Care Act and lost their seats anyway. Getting people healthcare was worth that. And protecting trans people—and excoriating transphobic lawmakers in the process—is worth it now.

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On Friday morning, Cavanaugh tweeted that trans kids are worth blocking everything else. “New bills will come to the floor in the coming weeks, including ones I support. I will filibuster them all. Every. Single. One,” the state legislator from Omaha tweeted. “Why? Because I am not giving extremists any chance to legislate their hate against the trans community.”

Yes! Exactly! Do not give transphobes an inch! Don’t let them “just ask questions!” Don’t let them couch their transphobic beliefs in policies for protecting the children! Make them say it with their whole chest. Make people have to carry around the record of their transphobia forever.

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Gender-affirming care is lifesaving, whether it’s for children or adults. The largest nongovernmental survey of transgender American adults—released this week by KFF/The Washington Post—found that most said transitioning made their lives more enjoyable. The most heartwrenching quote in the paper’s write-up of the survey? TC Caldwell, a 37-year-old Black nonbinary person from Montgomery, Alabama, told the paper: “Living doesn’t hurt anymore.” If it makes you feel better to pretend it’s not lifesaving, you can. You would be wrong to do so, but you can pretend that. Withholding gender-affirming care is as cruel and unusual as withholding chemotherapy or an appendectomy.

Gender-affirming care is not easy, nor cheap, to acquire. There is a limited supply of doctors, and this year, various states are trying to criminalize the practice. In 2011, Janet Mock’s trailblazing essay about transitioning for Marie Claire partially detailed how expensive it was to travel to Thailand for surgery after a year of hormone therapy. That was written over a decade ago, and medical intervention has only gotten more fraught. In that same poll from the KFF/Washington Post only 10 percent said they thought health care professionals knew “a lot” about treating trans people. Ten! Percent!

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The women in Lincoln are doing incredible work. As Cavanaugh said back in February when this journey started: “I will burn this session to the ground over this bill. I have nothing but time, and I am going to use all of it.”

In the immortal words of Shania Twain, let’s go girls.