This bill needs to be introduced everywhere and passed into law

[nptelegraph.com]

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An Omaha lawmaker set the internet abuzz recently with an amendment to ban minors from church camps, vacation Bible study classes and other “religious indoctrination camps.”

The proposal is just one of several amendments from State Sen. Megan Hunt intended to make a statement while helping her fight bills she opposes. In doing so, the second-term lawmaker is taking a page from the playbook of another state legislator famous for riling opponents, former Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha.

It was Hunt’s amendment to Legislative Bill 371, which seeks to ban minors from drag shows, that generated the recent attention.

Her amendment generally mirrors the bill, which she opposes, but starts by laying out legislative findings that there is a “well-documented history of indoctrination and sexual abuse perpetrated by religious leaders and clergy people upon children.”
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The amendment drew attention from conservative national media, including Fox News, which quoted critics calling it “anti-religious bigotry.”

Thousands of comments, calls and tweets soon followed. Some called Hunt “dangerous,” “evil,” “a Communist” and an “embarrassment.”

“If Megan Hunt can’t tell the difference in freedom of religion and sexualizing our kids with drag shows, there’s no hope for her. I get what she’s trying to convey, but sweetheart it’s apples and oranges,” one critic tweeted.

Another said: “Megan Hunt needs to be recalled — she is anti-American.”

“Christian Persecution is growing every day, as the Bible prophecised [sic],” according to a third tweet.

Sen. Dave Murman of Glenvil, who introduced LB 371, was among the critics. He called Hunt’s amendment unfair to Christians because true Christians abhor the sexual abuse that has occurred in religious contexts.

“She’s making a point, I guess, a point that a vast majority of Christians would disagree with,” he said. “There’s more concern about drag shows than about churches in my district.”

But Hunt had supporters as well, especially after some liberal publications, including the LGBTQ news outlet the Advocate, picked up the story.

“Megan Hunt is one of my new heroes for proposing this amendment to Nebraska anti drag show laws,” one fan tweeted. A second one proposed “Megan Hunt for president.”

George Takei, a gay actor and activist who gained fame as Lt. Sulu on “Star Trek,” hailed her with one word: “Brava!”

Hunt did not respond to a request for comment from The World-Herald. But she told Fox News that she filed the church camp amendment and others like it to make a point, not with any intent to have them become law.

“They aren’t meant to pass,” she told the national outlet. “They are meant to help kill harmful and discriminatory bills like LB 371 which, if we are forced to debate in the full Legislature, will truly be a waste of time for Nebraskans and for lawmakers.”

She filed similar amendments on other bills.

An amendment to LB 575, requiring transgender youths to use bathrooms and play on school sports teams based on their gender at birth, would change the title of the bill from the “Sports and Spaces Act” to the “Genital Inspection Act.”

On LB 626, banning abortions after embryonic cardiac activity can be detected, at about six weeks gestation, she filed an amendment to make it illegal for a state official to “perform a procedure that will stop the cardiac activity of a person convicted of a Class I felony.” That is, carry out the state’s death penalty.

Other amendments to LB 371, the drag show bill, would bar minors from watching television programs depicting sexual themes or violence without a parent or guardian present or bar them from R-rated movies.

One would require makers of chocolate-coated candy from distributing their product to minors without “explicitly identifying the candy’s gender assigned at birth” on the package. The last was a tongue-in-cheek nod to the brief kerfuffle over how M&M candies are portrayed in advertisements.

“People are making a lot of the fact that I’m just trying to bring some levity to my work. Wow,” Hunt tweeted.

Her use of amendments follows in the path well-trodden by Chambers. The longest-serving Nebraska lawmaker, Chambers was legendary in his ability to slow or stop legislation using the procedural tools at hand.

He often filed multiple amendments on legislation he opposed. The amendments took up debate time and blocked supporters from getting to amendments they wanted. Some amendments were intended to improve the bill. Others simply served as a filibuster tool.

But he also filed amendments to make a point or simply have a little fun.

The amendments he offered to a proposed constitutional amendment protecting the right to fish, hunt and trap in the state included one that would have protected Nebraskans’ right to root for the Big Red football team and another to protect their ability to “fish for compliments.’’

A third would have protected their right to “sit on the front porch on a warm summer evening, drinking a glass of cold lemonade, dreamily watching the silvery moon rise to begin its journey across a darkening velvet sky powdered with stardust.’’