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OMAHA – At least one Nebraska business owner called her local police department Monday after a public letter urging them to drop bills targeting LGBTQ rights sounded like a threatening call.
Andrea Cathol, founder of Field Day Development, was one of several businesses and non-profits who endorsed the letter and contacted them later by phone.
Cathol said she was sickened by the message, which was filled with offensive and derogatory language.
But she reported the call and sent a copy of the voicemail to Omaha police. The female caller believed she worked in that industry and called the Nebraska Real Estate Commission.
Cathol said she alerted her staff about the call and they told her to lock the door to the business.
“How can you not take this seriously when you get a voicemail like that?” She said.
The call reads in part: “Hey loser, what’s up with you (expletive)? Want men in women’s sports? How is it (expletive)? … Are you mutilating children as we speak, or are you just advocating for that? … You[expletive]out.”
‘par for the course’
The Nebraska detective called a number left on a few return machines and phones, and the woman who answered said she was busy calling the businesses and nonprofits listed in the letter.
Driving her actions, she says, are thoughts about the future of her eight daughters, her sisters and other women.
The letter — sent last week to Gov. Jim Pillen and state lawmakers — was endorsed by more than 100 business and nonprofit leaders.
The letter opposes “harmful social legislation” and cites House Bill 574, which would bar minors from receiving certain gender-affirming procedures, and LB 575, which would bar transgender girls from competing in girls’ school sports.
Business and philanthropic leaders who sponsored the letter said bills like these are bad for talent recruitment and retention and the overall business climate.
State Sen. Kathleen Kaut of Omaha, who introduced the bills, said she rejects calls that she calls threats. She said this year has been “par for the course” with some of the “distressing” words spoken on the legislative floor.
“Every business that signs a public letter like this understands that they are taking a position that is popular with some and unpopular with others,” Kat said.
“Protecting Nebraska’s children is good for business,” Pillen’s office said in a response to a letter sent last week.
The governor said, “We welcome all people to Nebraska, but we must not allow children to make life-altering decisions that cannot be reversed until they are adults.
When you get a voicemail like this, how can you not take it seriously?
– Andrea Cathol, Founder and Owner of Field Day Development
The Law Offices of Lincoln Friedman was among more than 100 groups that endorsed the letter. Dan Friedman said Monday that he returned a call from a woman who passed on a message about the letter.
Friedman told him the caller swore at him and was anti-feminist and anti-feminist, but Friedman said he didn’t feel physically threatened.
He said his father represented Brandon Tena’s estate and his law firm’s feelings about the accounts were inspired by that experience. Brandon Tina is a 21-year-old transgender and Lincoln native who was murdered 30 years ago in rural Humboldt, Nebraska.
“We will always stand up for the rights of marginalized people in Nebraska and everywhere,” Friedman said. He described the bills in question as “problems in search of solutions.”
‘Deeply Personal’
Esther Mejia, the founder of eCreative Marketing, who sponsored the letter, said she picked up the phone Monday and eventually hung up on the caller, who Mejia said made her angry.
As part of the LGBTQ community, she and Cathol take the verbal abuse personally.
Mejia said the letter to state officials is meant to be cautious because legislative actions send a message that Nebraska does not “welcome everyone.”
The “harassment” call she received Monday “reinforced that narrative,” she said.
The letter followed a similar message sent earlier by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce.
The controversial bills sparked a series of filibusters led by Omaha Sens. Machaela Kavanaugh and Megan Hunt.
After news outlets, including the Nebraska Examiner, reported on the letter last week, at least one large Omaha business has been targeted on social media.
Omaha Police Department Lt. Neal Bonacci said an officer took Cathol’s information and forwarded it to the assault unit to see if it escalated to a felony.
Greg Lemon, director of the Nebraska Real Estate Commission, said the agency received calls about Monday’s message but does not review cases that are not related to real estate.
Major Nebraska employers sign on to national LGBTQ statement
LINCOLN — Some major employers in Nebraska, including Omaha-based Union Pacific Railroad, are among 319 companies that have signed a statement opposing an anti-LGBTQ state law.
While the statement from the Washington, D.C.-based Human Rights Campaign did not mention bills pending in the Nebraska legislature, it did make clear that the Nebraska measure opposes measures that would prevent minors from receiving certain gender-affirming care. Legislative Bill 574, does.
“We are deeply concerned about bills being introduced in statehouses across the country that would single out LGBTQ individuals — many, especially transgender youth — for exclusion or differential treatment,” the statement said.
The statement says such pieces of legislation “unnecessarily and uncharitably single out already marginalized groups for further harm.” “They want to put the state government’s power behind discrimination and promote abuse against LGBTQ people.”
A Union Pacific spokeswoman said Monday that the corporation signed the declaration in 2021.
“(Union Pacific) has a long-standing public record of supporting our LGBTQ employees and community, including membership in the Nebraska Competition and our 100% rating from the HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index.”
Other major employers in Nebraska have signed on to the statement. include Becton Dickinson, Cargill, Google, Kellogg Company, PayPal, Starbucks, Target, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Yahoo and Pfizer.
According to its website, the Human Rights Campaign, founded in 1980, supports candidates and policies that “promote justice.”
Just recently, the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce sent a letter opposing LB 574, as did the leaders of 115 Nebraska businesses and nonprofits.
The bill, introduced by Omaha state Sen. Kathleen Kaut, is awaiting a final round of debate.
– By Nebraska Examiner Senior Reporter Paul Hamel.
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