Issues

Every Nebraskan deserves full bodily autonomy — the right to make their own health care decisions, access reproductive care, and live free from discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. True freedom means the government cannot control our bodies, dictate our identities, or deny us equality. Bodily autonomy is one of our priority issue areas in our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan. This work encompasses both LGBTQ+ rights and reproductive freedom.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution creates a bedrock for American values, guaranteeing freedom of expression and assembly, a free press, and our freedom to practice our faith or no faith at all. Our work defending protected speech and religious freedom in Nebraska has taken us to communities large and small. We firmly believe that constitutional rights must apply to even the most unpopular groups if they're going to be preserved for everyone.

No matter where we come from or how we got here, all Nebraskans deserve to live with dignity, free from discrimination based on race, religion, or national origin. Immigrants are our friends, family members, and neighbors, and they have the right to be treated fairly, including due process under the law. We refuse to let politicians use fear to divide us or scapegoat members of our communities. Immigrants' rights is one of the priority issue areas in our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan.

Indigenous people have the freedom and power to exercise their inherent rights and sovereignty — over themselves, their communities, and their lands. This means the ability to live, govern, heal, and learn in alignment with traditional ways, without interference or barriers. It means celebrating culture, language, and heritage through time-honored ceremonies and practices. True sovereignty requires not just legal recognition, but respect, protection, and active support for Indigenous ways of life. Indigenous Justice is a priority issue area in our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, building off past successes and ongoing collaborations.

The policies and actions of the police are instrumental in deciding who gets stopped, searched, arrested, and funneled into the criminal legal system; indeed, the United States' overincarceration crisis begins at the front end of the system.

Though generations of civil rights activism have led to important gains, our country has yet to break free from a system of racial injustice that has been with us ever since our nation's founding. Our work is grounded in our firm commitment to racial justice principles, requiring us to identify the ways in which racial injustices have been woven into the fabric of our institutions, societies, histories, and present-day realities. Racial justice is embedded in all of our 2025-2028 Strategic Plan, and shapes our integrated advocacy strategy: advancing justice through impact litigation, policy advocacy, and being in and with communities across Nebraska.