Welcome to

Rainbow Parents of Nebraska!

You are receiving this email because you gave us your information through our QR code or by going to our website.

Thanks for wanting to be more involved to protect the queer kid(s) in your life.

Previous week’s emails can be found here:

https://www.rainbowparentsofne.org/blog

U.S. Congressional Races

Rainbow Parents has focused mostly on state political offices and candidates, but Nebraska also has three U.S. Congressional races, divided by district. Please go here to look up your current representative and some nifty facts about your district.

District 1–Carole Blood vs. Rep Mike Flood

Nebraska State Senator Carole Blood is a lifelong Nebraskan: Born in McCook, raised in rural Adams county, and a 30 year Sarpy County resident. She was first elected to the Bellevue City Council in 2008, where she served two terms before being elected to the state legislature in 2016. She has been a fierce advocate for LGBTQ youth and families during the recent onslaught of discriminatory legislation. During debate on LB 575 in the spring of 2024, she delivered these inspiring words:

 “The Nebraska I grew up in, we had space for everybody. No matter who you are, what you look like, or how you identify. I remember growing up in a small community that had transgender people. And never did I remember, ever, a negative word about that from anybody. I didn’t see them being bullied, I didn’t see them being made fun of. It was live and let live, and that’s how Nebraska used to be. Because they weren’t transgender, they were Nebraskans that happened to be transgender. They were Nebraskans first.”

Senator Carole Blood, April 5, 2024

Join Sarpy County Democrats to watch Senator Blood debate Mike Flood live on Nebraska Public Media, pick up yard signs, and write postcards. Also, visit her website to donate or sign up for various campaign activities.

District 2–Tony Vargas vs. Rep Don Bacon

Nebraska State Senator Tony Vargas was first elected in 2016 and served two terms. A former public school teacher and OPS school board member, he spoke on the last day of debate on LB 575 about why he opposed its restrictions on transgender youth:

“The reason I’m against the bill is because not only do I see this as a framework for continuing to berate LGBTQ youth, trans youth, but we’re also inherently making our school districts and our schools less of a welcoming place and putting more of a target on individuals’ backs.”

Senator Tony Vargas, April 5, 2024

In 2022, Tony Vargas first challenged Senator Don Bacon and lost by only 3 percentage points. Now, in 2024, the latest polling data shows Vargas up by 6 points. This seat is winnable, but we need to support his campaign with our dollars, our time and our energy.

Check his website, his social media, and Mobilize to keep up with the latest opportunities to help turn this congressional seat blue!

District 3–Daniel Ebers vs. Rep Adrian Smith

Unfortunately, we have not been able to learn much about district 3 challenger, Daniel Ebers. We know that the incumbent, Adrian Smith, scored  0/100 on the Human Rights Campaign’s congressional scorecard, so surely Daniel Ebers would be an improvement. However, with only a Facebook page and no website that we can find, he does not seem to be running a competitive campaign. If you are in district 3 and motivated to donate or volunteer for Ebers, please do! For others, it would be more worth our time to contribute to other local or state races (state legislature, state board of education, school boards, etc.) or the Vargas vs. Bacon race in Nebraska District 2.

Action Steps

1. Check your progress on your 10 actions by election day! Did you donate? Volunteer for a campaign? Write a letter to the editor? Attend a candidate event? It’s not too late to commit to 10 actions by November 5th to make our schools, cities, counties, state, and nation better places.

1. Make your plan for the upcoming week–how many of your 10 actions can you complete? For ideas of what to do, take a look at the links in this week’s email, last week’s email, Rainbow Parents social media, Rainbow Parents’ endorsement page, or individual candidate pages to see what opportunities are out there this week and put them on your calendar!

Thank you for taking the time to read this week’s newsletter!

Don’t forget, you can find our previous email action items here: https://www.rainbowparentsofne.org/blog

Stay tuned for more action steps from Rainbow Parents of Nebraska next week. If you have questions or suggestions for us, please contact us at the links below!

Norfolk Pride

Rainbow Parents of Nebraska had a booth at Norfolk Pride this weekend. What joy it was to meet lovely people from all over the state! Nebraska is filled with loving, caring people who want to make our state inclusive for all people. We wanted to share what we learned this weekend in  our conversations with people about the candidates from the area who are running for state legislature, state board of education, and the local school board.

We learned about three candidates for Norfolk School Board: Beth Shashikant, Brenda Carhart and Patti Gubbels.

And looking at the State Board of Education race, Bill McAllister is a more promising candidate to keep our schools focused on supporting children in education.

Take a close look at these candidates and consider ways you can support them, especially if you are in the Norfolk area!

Queer Joy

Thank you again to organizers, vendors, entertainment, and attendees at Norfolk Pride for your kindness, support, and lovely conversations. This was Norfolk's 4th year of the Pride Festival and it’s getting bigger all the time, because there are queer folks making community in every corner of this state. We came away stronger in our belief that Nebraska is worth fighting for. Together we all make Nebraska a better place for all people!

No protesters showed up, but organizers were prepared!! Close up pic to read the sign, the one with the flag for reference. Such a sad, lonely, protestor chair…