HALL MONITOR: “YES” on Protecting Women’s Sports and Spaces in Nebraska (LB 575)

Name: LB 575, the Sports and Spaces Act

Summary: Legislative Bill 575 would separate spaces at schools, including sports teams, restrooms, and locker rooms, by biological sex. 

Nebraska is the only state in the country with a unicameral legislature. While every other state’s legislature is split into a house of representatives, sometimes referred to as a general assembly, and a senate, Nebraska only has one chamber in its state legislature. 

Status: Like the U.S. Congress, Nebraska’s legislature runs in biennial, or two year, cycles. Bills from odd numbered years can carry over into even numbered years in Nebraska. 

Introduced in 2023, this bill carries over to the 2024 legislative session.

After a battle over its so-called “sister bill,” which prohibits minors from accessing sex change procedures, it’s unclear if the Nebraska legislature is poised to take up another fight over child gender identity issues. For additional context, see the Nebraska Examiner. 

Sponsors: Senator Kathleen Kauth introduced the bill. Additional senators have added their name to it: Aguilar, Albrecht, Ballard, Bostelman, Brandt, Brewer, Briese, Clements, DeKay, Dorn, Dover, Erdman, Halloran, Hansen, Hardin, Holdcroft, Hughes, Ibach, Jacobson, Linehan, Lippincott, Lowe, McDonnell, Murman, Riepe, Sanders, von Gillern. 

Bill Breakdown: Legislative Bill 575 has two parts. First, it ensures that “group bathroom[s] and locker room[s]” within schools are separated by biological sex. Second, it ensures that schools specify male, female, and coed sports teams, and that students only have access to sex-separated teams based on their biological sex—not their gender identity. 

Why Does PDE Action Support this Bill? 

While every child deserves to be treated with dignity and respect, it is vitally important for the safety and wellbeing of children to maintain sex-separated spaces at schools. Right now, women and girls are being told that they must accept biological males into their sex-separated spaces—which are protected by Title IX. This is not only unfair, but it’s unsafe. 
Young women have sustained physical injuries and have lost out on opportunities to advance in athletics after being forced to compete with or against biological males. A biological male field hockey player knocked the teeth out of a female competitor in Massachusetts. A volleyball player in North Carolina said she suffered a neck injury and concussion after a male competitor spiked the ball at her head.