Last week’s newsletter provided information about two related initiative measures (Initiatives 440 and 441) that will appear on the ballot on November 3rd. A third initiative that successfully petitioned to appear on the ballot deals with gender and sports. Initiative 442, known officially as the Fairness for Girls initiative, would effectively take the current state statute regarding male and female participation in athletics and place it into the Nebraska Constitution.
The current Nebraska law was enacted in 2025 with the passage of LB89. LB89 specified that all K-12 public schools, public colleges and universities, as well as any private schools or institutions that compete against public schools must designate every athletic team or sport as for males, females, or coed. The law also specifies that any team or sport designated for females is not open to biologically male students. Further, the law states that nothing restricts any student’s ability to participate in sports that are designated as coed.
Prior to the enactment of LB89, the Nebraska School Activities Association (NSAA) policy governed gender participation in athletics. Critics of the NSAA policy, which was adopted in 2016, pointed out that it allowed biological males to participate in female sports if they could medically prove they had undergone at least a year of continuous hormone suppression or had sex reassignment surgery. According to reports, during the period the policy was in effect – from 2016 to 2025, the NSAA received only 8 applications from transgender athletes. Due to privacy restrictions, the NSAA has not revealed how many of the applications it approved from the 8 it received. The NSAA policy was superseded by LB89 in 2025.
If approved by voters in November, Initiative 442 would amend Article VII of the Nebraska Constitution. Article VII contains multiple sections that establish the framework for Nebraska’s educational system. This initiative would add a new section to restrict biological males from participating in any athletics designated for females. The language of this constitutional amendment can be found on pages 17-18 of this document from the Nebraska Secretary of State:
I urge everyone to read the pamphlet to be informed about the three initiatives petitioned by the citizens to appear on the November ballot. Next week, I will share information about a proposed constitutional amendment advanced by the Legislature, which will also appear on the ballot next month.
As always, if I can be of assistance to you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact my office. My staff members – Matt and Katie – are available to assist you with your needs and they pass along messages, so if you’d like a call back, please let them know!
Email: jana.hughes@leg.ne.gov
Phone: 402-471-2756
Facebook: Senator Jana Hughes
