Nebraska already keeps males out of girls' sports by law. On November 3, voters can lock it into the state constitution, where politicians can't quietly undo it.
What's on the ballot
This is the official ballot question from the Nebraska Secretary of State:
> Shall the Nebraska Constitution be amended to provide: (1) Schools must expressly designate each athletic team or sport as one of the following based on biological sex: (a) Males, men, or boys; (b) females, women, or girls; or (c) coed or mixed; and (2) Athletic teams or sports designated for females, women, or girls shall not be open to students of the male sex?
What a Yes vote does
- Every school team has to be labelled boys, girls, or coed, based on biological sex.
- Girls' teams are closed to males. No exceptions for boys who identify as girls.
- It covers public schools, public colleges and universities, and any private school that plays against them. That includes intramural sports.
- It works on its own. Lawmakers don't have to pass anything for it to take effect.
- If a court strikes down one part, the rest stays.
A No vote leaves the constitution as it is.
Why put it in the constitution?
Nebraska passed the Stand With Women Act (LB 89) in 2025. It keeps males off girls' teams. But a law can be changed by the next Legislature. LB 89 passed with 33 votes, the bare minimum needed to break a filibuster, two years after it was first proposed, the Nebraska Examiner reported.
A constitutional amendment can only be changed by the voters.
"Putting this in the Constitution means that changes only if the people of Nebraska decided should," former state Sen. Julie Slama, a sponsor, said at the Oct. 14 hearing, the Daily Nebraskan reported. "Fifty years ago, women fought for girls to get on the field. Our job is to fight to make sure they stay there."
A record petition
Slama says more than 211,000 Nebraskans signed, the most for any ballot initiative in state history. The Secretary of State stopped counting once it had verified 138,613 valid signatures, well past the requirement, with enough signatures in 59 counties, where 38 were required.
The lawsuit to keep it off the ballot failed
A Lincoln voter sued to block the measure. She claimed the one-line summary on the petition didn't say enough. A Lancaster County judge threw the case out in September. On October 16, the Nebraska Supreme Court agreed, 7-0.
Anyone wanting the details, the court said, "need only flip over the page to read the proposed initiative's full text," the Nebraska Examiner reported.
Initiative 442 stays on the ballot.
Next hearings
The Secretary of State held the first public hearing at the Capitol in Lincoln on Oct. 14. The next two are Thursday, Oct. 22, 6–9 p.m. at the Buffalo County Extension Building in Kearney, and Saturday, Oct. 24, 10 a.m.–1 p.m. at the Millard Branch Library in Omaha (Central time).
The bottom line
Nebraska girls earned their spots, their medals and their scholarships. Initiative 442 makes sure no future Legislature can hand them to males. Election Day is November 3.
Cover photo: Nebraska National Guard (public domain)