"If you want to inflict pain upon our children, I am going to inflict pain upon this body," said state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, who has filibustered for three weeks to block a proposed ban on gender-affirming care for youth.

Machaela Cavanaugh was horrified to see an anti-transgender rights bill advance to the Senate floor in late February and was determined to keep it from passing into law. “The children of Nebraska deserve to have somebody stand up and fight for them,” she says.