Republican governor Jim Pillen of Nebraska signed an executive order on Wednesday enshrining sex-based definitions of “man,” “woman,” “boy,” “girl,” “father,” and “mother,” is state law.
“It is common sense that men do not belong in women’s only spaces,” Pillen said in a statement following the signing. “As Governor, it is my duty to protect our kids and women’s athletics, which means providing single-sex spaces for women’s sports, bathrooms, and changing rooms.”
Executive Order No. 23-16, also known as the Women’s Bill of Rights, outlined that “biological differences between the sexes are enduring and may, in some circumstances, warrant the creation of separate social, educational, athletic, or other spaces to ensure safety.” The order further elaborated that there “are legitimate reasons to distinguish between the sexes with respect to athletics, prisons or other detention facilities, domestic violence shelters, rape crisis centers, locker rooms, restrooms, and other areas where biology, safety, and/or privacy are implicated.”
The move was condemned by Democratic state senator Megan Hunt. “Unfortunately, the Governor took advantage of this historic day in which many Nebraskans are gathered together to celebrate and honor women’s athletics, and chose to divide us. The truth is, no executive order can erase trans people. They have always existed and always will,” Hunt wrote on X, the social-media platform formerly known as Twitter.
According to the Nebraska executive order, a female is an individual “whose biological reproductive system is designed to produce ova.” Similarly, a male is defined as someone whose “biological reproductive system is designed to fertilize the ova of a female.”
In May, Pillen signed a bill that barred healthcare providers in the state from performing gender-reassignment and hormone-replacement treatments on minors and youth under 19 years old. It is “the most significant win for social conservative agenda in over a generation of Nebraska,” proclaimed Pilled at a signing ceremony in Lincoln, the state capital.
The executive order comes less than a month after a similar measure was passed in Oklahoma by Republican governor Kevin Still.
“Today we’re taking a stand against this out-of-control gender ideology that is eroding the very foundation of our society,” Stitt said at the time. “We are going to be safeguarding the very essence of what it means to be a woman.”
“Oklahomans are fed up with attempts to confuse the word ‘woman’ and turn it into some kind of ambiguous definition that harms real women.”