Nebraska Sen. Megan Hunt (D) Photo: Nebraska Legislature
Out bisexual Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt, who has helped filibuster transphobic legislation in her state, has switched her party affiliation from Democratic to independent.
Hunt has switched because of the media’s hyper-focus on party affiliation and “the lack of support” from national groups — like Emily’s List or the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee — for “liberal candidates in conservative-dominated states,” the Lincoln Journal Star reported.
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“The parties are not the future,” Hunt told the publication. “The political dysfunction is extreme and at the national level, the parties are ideologically bankrupt.”
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Hunt said her party switch isn’t a reflection of her state’s Democratic leadership and said that her politics would remain on the progressive left. Rather, she accused national groups of taking credit for the legislative accomplishments of progressive politicians in red states, like her, while not financially supporting those candidates.
She also pointed out that in Nebraska’s unique one-chamber legislature, party affiliation matters less than in other states. Leadership roles are determined by a chamber-wide vote, and committee assignments are “divided evenly among Nebraska’s three congressional districts rather than by which party is in the majority,” the aforementioned publication noted.
As such, when national media focus on Nebraskan politicians’ political affiliation, Hunt feels it doesn’t accurately reflect what’s happening in her legislature and also poisons her colleagues’ relationships with one another.
“That totally misrepresents who I am, what I believe, who my colleagues are, and how things work here, and I don’t want my name to be used to contribute to the problem, to continue a narrative that is lazy and inaccurate,” Hunt said.
In a statement to the Lincoln Journal Star, Jane Kleeb, chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party, said, “I, like many liberals, are pushing our Democratic Party constantly from the inside working to build the infrastructure and message across the state. We respect the choices of politicians to decide if our party fits them or not.”
Commenting on Hunt’s party switch, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) wrote on the new social media app BlueSky, “I think it’s brave — people often complain about the 2 party system, but it starts at the state level. She’s trying to educate people on [Nebraska’s system] and how their landscape allows for this. [In my opinion] most 3rd party [conversations] can be unserious [because] they don’t grapple [with] reality. So this is interesting to see.”
State Sen. Hunt has been one of several Nebraskan senators who have filibustered the so-called “Let Them Grow Act,” a law that would block minors from accessing gender-affirming care. Age-appropriate gender-affirming care is supported by major medical organizations like the American Medical Association, American Psychological Association, and American Academy of Pediatrics.
Hunt has been put under investigation by the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission (NADC) for a possible conflict of interest because she has a transgender child.
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.”
Hunt disavowed the investigation.
“This, colleagues, is not serious,” she 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.”
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers in Nebraska are standing up for Hunt. “My colleagues stood up offering support, but I don’t need their words. I need their vote,” she said.
Screenshot 2023-05-08 at 11.42.14 AM
As the GOP continues to do everything in its power to ban trans athletes from participating in sports, one trans surfer is determined to keep riding the waves.
Australian longboarder Sasha Jane Lowerson has inadvertently become the face of the conflict in the world of professional surfing. She is the first and only out trans woman to compete in events with the World Surf League (WSL) and has been able to participate as of late due to rule changes by both WSL and the International Surfing Association (ISA) that permit trans athletes to compete as their gender as long as they meet certain hormonal requirements.
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When the changes were announced, many pro surfers blasted the move, threatening boycotts and proposing the organizations create a separate division for trans athletes.
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Bethany Hamilton, a devout Christian, has been a face of women’s surfing since she lost an arm to a shark bite at 13. When the changes were announced, she took to Instagram to declare that “many of the girls currently on tour are not in support with this new rule” and said she’s speaking up for those without a voice, who fear they may be “ostracized” for their views.
Hamilton’s solution to her “concerns”? A league of their own for “male-bodied individuals” and “converted women.” She threatened to boycott WSL competitions until trans women are no longer welcome.
Other surfers who spoke out against allowing trans women to compete in the women’s category included Kelly Slater and Keala Kennelly.
Despite the backlash, Lowerson said the new rules have made her feel safer than ever.
“What it changed was, before I didn’t feel safe,” she told Outside. “I didn’t feel like there was a support network. And then to see that there actually were influential people that were supportive and there was a network of safety being created. For me, that was, subconsciously, the thing that made me say, yes, I would compete.”
She emphasized that the vocal dissidents are only one side of the story and that what really matters are the trans and nonbinary surfers who have reached out to say she has inspired them to keep going.
“Growing up, not having an ambassador as such—a role model—that had led the way was a big reason for me not to take that first step [and transition] for so many years,” explained Lowerson, who did not transition until age 40.
Surfing, in fact, was a big reason she waited so long. She didn’t want to give up the sport she loved dearly. But competing as the wrong gender was equally torturous.
“You’re going out to a heat and they’re calling the names out. I always hated my name because it reflected a male persona.”
“It would reflect in how I would compete. I would either go out and be mind-numb and not even catch waves. Or put really good scores on the board because I would have blocked it out. That was quite hard.”
Her decision to transition came after a suicide attempt. “That was the catalyst for me to go, You either be you or you die. And I don’t want to die.”
After she transitioned, she never expected to compete again, and she is delighted that she has been able to do so after all.
“There are so many things that make someone a good athlete, and to reduce it to testosterone is also an insult to athletes who work really hard,” she said.
She added that she thinks WSL has “done a good job so far” and that “trans athletes are here and here to stay.”
A new BBC Sounds podcast, Blood on the Dance Floor, is investigating the cold case murder of a gay police officer. In the most recent episode, Kristian Nairn, the out actor who portrayed Hodor in Game of Thrones, has shared that he personally witnessed the shooting more than two decades ago.
The murder occurred in May 1997 at the Parliament, the only gay bar in Belfast at the time. The victim was 24-year-old police officer Darren Bradshaw, and although The Irish National Liberation Army claimed responsibility, no convictions were made.
Nairn was 21 and had just arrived at the Parliament with his friends when the shooting happened. “We hadn’t been there long, we’d probably had our first drink,” he recalled.
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He then noticed someone with a “weirdly drawn-on beard” enter the room and approach Bradshaw at the bar. “Me and my friends were just like ‘look at the state of him’,” he said. “He was nervous-looking, he was definitely looking for someone.”
The man got close and fired three shots into Bradshaw’s back. “The music carried on for a second before it came down,” said Nairn. “I remember a girl at the bar covered in blood.
“This guy just legged it out, sort of kicked the doors open. I made eye contact with him, I think we all made eye contact with him as he was coming out. It happened so fast. It was just like stunned silence, just like a bomb had gone off.”
Traumatic enough as witnessing the murder was, the shooting had immediate personal consequences for Nairn when he confided in his family. “I told my grandfather I’d been in a shooting and he was like ‘I’m glad you’re okay’ and all that,” he recalled. “But he was quite a gossipy man in his time and he was around telling his old farmer friends. One of them had obviously been watching the news and he was like ‘that was a gay bar’. And that was how my grandfather found out I was gay, and he threw me out of the house.”
For the wider LGBTQ+ community in Belfast, the Parliament had been something of a haven. Nairn described it as a “safe space [for] people who’ve been repressed their entire lives.”
“It was an amazing place, there was nowhere else like it,” he said. “We were there every Saturday – at one stage every night of the week. You’d walk into the bar downstairs and it’d be absolutely rammed.” You can hear in Nairn’s voice that this is how he will always remember the place, despite the awful event.
Nairn came out publicly as gay in 2014, while Game of Thrones was at its height. More recently, he has a regular series role as a pyromaniac pirate on HBO Max’s queer comedy Our Flag Means Death.