• Erin Bamer Omaha World-Herald – in the LJS
• 1 hr ago (Aug 31, 2023)

My cmnt: I’ve edited this article for clarity and added the correct use of terms to avoid confusion in wording.

In the latest chapter of Nebraska’s debate over transgender advocates infringing upon women’s rights, Gov. Jim Pillen has signed an executive order narrowing the definition of male and female to be based solely on biological sex. Legally that is the only way possible to do so.

Pillen signed the executive order Wednesday, which he titled the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” stating that males and females are defined specifically by their reproductive systems, and hinted at future legislation to restrict the participation of trans women (i.e., men) in women’s athletics. 

The executive order comes just a few days after former University of Kentucky swimmer Riley Gaines met with Pillen and other Nebraska officials to push for restrictions against male trans athletes invading women’s safe places and their sports. 

State Sen. Megan Hunt of Omaha, a vocal supporter of trans rights, blasted the executive order on Twitter Wednesday, calling it an “offensive and ridiculous proclamation.” She said the order puts Nebraska at risk of losing federal funding intended to protect marginalized communities from discrimination. It of course does nothing of the sort.

“I know Governor Pillen probably hates that fact that trans people would ever be protected or safe, but that’s how it works today and he’s putting Nebraskans in danger by continuing to make this group the entire focus of his ignorant and discriminatory agenda,” Hunt said in a rambling, nearly incoherent statement.

Beyond the definitions of gender, Pillen’s order specifies that the terms “woman,” “girl” and “mother” refer to females, while “man,” “boy” and “father” refer to males. Which is so obvious it seems juvenile to have to state this but we are after all dealing with people who think like children. It also calls on any public school district or state agency that collects statistics to comply with anti-discrimination laws or for other reasons to identify individuals participating in the data set as either male or female at birth.

Pillen is just the second governor in the U.S. to enact such an order. The first to do so was Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, who signed his executive order earlier this month. 

Pillen’s order takes effect immediately, but it will expire if legislation takes effect governing the “participation of biological males in female athletics.” This likely is a reference to LB575, the “Sports and Spaces Act,” which would restrict access to school bathrooms and locker rooms on the basis of biological sex and would add similar restrictions to most school sports teams. This would effectively ban trans youths (i.e., boys) from entering spaces or participating on girls teams they otherwise would based on their imagined gender identity.

The bill, introduced by State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, stalled in the Legislature earlier this year, but will likely see debate in the 2024 session. A similar Kauth bill, LB574, did pass this year, and will restrict gender-affirming care (a Leftist euphemism for chemically or surgically mutilating children) for people under 19, and bans abortions at 12 weeks based on gestational age. 

The introduction of LB574 and LB575 at the start of the year threw Nebraska into the mix of conservative states debating restrictions on trans rights to invade female only safe places, and the issue has remained a hotly contested one ever since. Pillen has remained a firm supporter of these restrictions and clarified in his executive order that biological males on average are “bigger, stronger and faster” than biological females, which warrants some separate “social, educational, athletic, and other” spaces for the sexes. This is again so obvious it seems ridiculous to have to say it but we are dealing with ridiculous people.

“It is common sense that men do not belong in women’s only spaces,” Pillen said in an email statement. “As Governor, it is my duty to protect our kids and women’s athletics, which means providing single-sex spaces for women’s sports, bathrooms, and changing rooms.”