LINCOLN — President Donald Trump’s executive orders to define “male” and “female” and mandate that student-athletes participate on sports teams according to their sex are bolstering legislative efforts to do the same in Nebraska.

State Sen. Kathleen Kauth of Omaha, whose Legislative Bill 89 would accomplish similar goals as Trump, said she “absolutely” would continue pursuing her state-level legislation this year — the Stand With Women Act — regardless of congressional or federal action.

Kauth’s proposal would define “male” and “female” throughout state government, similar to the aims of a 2023 executive order by Gov. Jim Pillen. LB 89 has a public hearing before the Government, Military and Veterans Affairs Committee on Friday.

Opponents of Kauth’s legislation and other policies like it have argued it singles out young students already at higher risk of bullying or suicide and who, they argue, just want to play sports. Nebraska has had fewer than 10 transgender student-athletes participate in K-12 sports under an existing policy since 2017.

Kauth has said her legislation is “common sense.”

“I am thrilled that President Trump is fulfilling his promise to protect women and girls in athletics,” Kauth said in a text. “This provides a supportive framework for states to implement bills like Stand with Women to protect women and girls in all areas the state has responsibility.”

One such area that Kauth said needs clarity is corrections, which Trump addressed via an executive order that federal judges have temporarily blocked in at least Washington, D.C., and Boston.

That executive order seeks to ensure “males are not detained in women’s prison” and requires the federal Bureau of Prisons to revise its medical policies so federal funds aren’t spent “for the purpose of conforming an inmate’s appearance to that of the opposite sex.”

One State Senator To Watch

Whether Kauth’s Stand With Women Act can get over the finish line this year could again come down to State Sen. Merv Riepe of Ralston, one of two Republicans who balked at Kauth’s similar bill in 2024, which was then limited to K-12 bathrooms, sports teams and locker rooms.

Riepe had said he was waiting for guidance from the federal government and Trump and to see whether Congress would pass legislation first.

Nebraska’s U.S. House Republicans, Reps. Mike Flood, Don Bacon and Adrian Smith voted in favor of such legislation last month, which awaits action now by the U.S. Senate.

“Last I knew, the feds, when they call the shots, it’s game over,” Riepe told reporters last month. “I want to wait and see.”

Riepe has said his focus is athletics and that he does want to “protect” women’s sports, too. However, he feels legislation doesn’t need to go much further. He has said local control equates to local accountability and that school districts can already pass policies to address who gets to play.

In a text Wednesday night, Riepe said that he liked that Trump’s order was straightforward and that he felt it “took no prisoners.”

“I will see how this plays out in the next 30-days and defer on any state legislative action,” Riepe said.

‘Equality Before The Law’

On Trump’s first day back in the White House last month, Jan. 20, he issued an executive order defining “male” and “female” and other related terms, which he will seek to have Congress codify in federal law later this year.

“Female,” according to the order, is someone who, at conception, belongs to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell. “Male” is someone who, at conception, belongs to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.

Kauth’s bill would implement the following, more specific definitions in Nebraska:

• Female: A person whose biological reproductive system is organized around the production of ova, including a woman (adult female) and a girl (adolescent female).
• Male: A person whose biological reproductive system is organized around the production of sperm, including a man (adult male) and a boy (adolescent male).

“We need to put these protections into law,” Kauth said in a text. “Executive orders can be overturned, and the Stand with Women bill addresses everything the state manages.”

Abbi Swatsworth, executive director of the statewide LGBTQ nonprofit OutNebraska, has described Kauth’s bill as an “escalation” of the Millard-area senator’s past efforts. Swatsworth and others have said the ultimate goal is legalized government discrimination, an allegation Kauth rejects.

“Nobody’s ‘equality before the law’ should ever be put in jeopardy, and that is exactly what this bill does by touching everything that government controls,” Swatsworth said last month, quoting the state motto.

Kauth in 2023 successfully led a bill known as the Let Them Grow Act to prohibit sex reassignment surgeries in Nebraska before the age of 19 and restrict puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones if prescribed to the patient’s gender identity.

Trump signed a similar executive order last week, which already faces legal challenges, as do many of his other orders.

Enforcement Of The Order

Trump’s latest athletics-focused executive order requires the U.S. Department of Education to prioritize Title IX enforcement and ensure “equal athletic opportunity for members of both sexes.”

That could include pulling federal grants or funds from K-12 schools or postsecondary institutions that do not comply, according to the order.

Trump said he would seek to block transgender athletes from competing in the 2028 Summer Olympics, set to be hosted in Los Angeles, and has charged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to demand changes within the International Olympic Committee to bar transgender athletes from single-sex sports.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem is charged with reviewing the country’s visa policies “to address males falsely asserting they are females when entering the United States to compete in women’s sports” and to prevent this entry “to the extent permitted by law.”

Trump is empowering the assistant to the president for domestic policy — Vince Haley, Trump’s campaign speechwriter — to convene representatives of major athletic organizations and governing bodies as well as impacted female athletes “to promote policies that are fair and safe, in the best interests of female athletes, and consistent with the requirements of Title IX.”

Haley will also convene state attorneys general for a state-by-state approach to enforcing the executive order.

Nebraska Officials On Front Lines

Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers was among those fighting new Title IX rules led by former President Joe Biden that sought to protect transgender and other LGBTQ students.

Pillen became the second governor to issue a “Women’s Bill of Rights” via executive order in August 2023, after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, which defined male and female for state agencies, not all areas of government. That order will remain in effect until a bill with policy goals such as Kauth’s Stand With Women Act becomes law.

“I signed the ‘Women’s Bill of Rights,’ which affirmed that men are men and women are women,” Pillen said in a statement. “And today, I was honored to be at the White House with President Trump as he signed his ‘No Men in Women’s Sports’ executive order into federal law.”

This story was published by Nebraska Examiner, an editorially independent newsroom providing a hard-hitting, daily flow of news. Read the original article: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2025/02/05/trump-executive-orders-embolden-...