Nebraska state senator accused of ethics violation for opposing bill because she has a trans son

Nebraska state senator Megan Hunt

This story speaks to my post from last night. The Republican Party think that they have a winning issue by attacking the trans community. The problem is the strident way they are going after trans Americans and their families is turning off a lot of voters. More than that, it is scaring them.

From the online publication Jezebel:

An Omaha lawyer has filed an ethics complaint against Nebraska State Sen. Megan Hunt (D), accusing her of financially benefiting from her own filibuster of the state’s anti-trans bill because she has a trans son. Omaha lawyer David Begley filed a complaint with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Office, Hunt announced from the legislative floor on Wednesday (to a few groans).

LGBTQNation breaks it down further:

State law requires that public officials and employees disclose potential conflicts of interest, but this refers to when a decision could have “a financial benefit or detriment to the public official or public employee, a member of his or her immediate family or business with which he or she is associated.” 

Begley, in his complaint, argued that Hunt would have “a slightly more than average chance” of getting the state’s Medicaid program to cover gender-affirming care for her son if L.B. 574 isn’t passed, even though Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services bans Medicaid funds from being used for gender-affirming care. 

“In order to fully transition, Senator Hunt’s child would need medical services,” Begley wrote. 

 “This, colleagues, is not serious,”  (Hunt) said. “This is harassment. This is using the legal system that we have in our state to stop corruption, to increase transparency, to hold government accountable, and using it to harass a member of the legislature, who you all know is trying to do the right thing, is trying to parent her child in a way that keeps that child alive, in a way that keeps that child successful in school and with friends and healthy.”

Begley's complaint comes across as meanspirited because it implies that Hunt isn't opposing the bill because of the harm it could potentially do to her child, but because she supposedly financially gains if it fails. I have no idea what the point of his complaint was, but its outcome obviously isn't working like he planned

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Nebraska are standing up for Hunt. “I do not endorse this offensive complaint,” state Sen. Tom Brandt (R) said, adding that “family is off limits” and “It is so far out of bounds that it does not merit discussion.”

 “So if Senator Hunt is going to get a conflict or a NADC file against her, then I should, too,” state Sen. Wendy DeBoer (D) said, referring to how all legislators are impacted by legislation passed by the body but it usually isn’t considered a conflict of interest.

 But Hunt said that’s not enough; she wants Republicans to give up their attempt to ban trans youth like her son from getting gender-affirming care.