Republican Nebraska state Sen. Steve Halloran is facing immense backlash following a Senate stunt in which he inserted his colleague’s name into a passage describing a rape scene chart.
On Monday, during debate on a bill to target obscenity and pornography in materials for elementary and secondary schools, Halloran read an excerpt from Alice Sebold’s memoir, “Lucky.”
The book details the perpetrator who was raped on her college campus during her freshman year.
Halloran, who read some of the brutal passages aloud, repeatedly inserted his colleague’s name “Senator Cavanaugh” into the text.
“I was on the ground trying to go through about a fifth of my clothes he kicked me and I curled up in a ball I want an ab****** senator Cavanaugh,” read Holloran in his waterfall.
“This is language that should not be introduced to children,” Holloran said at the end, noting that he found the book in 16 schools.
This operation immediately aroused criticism, including from the person to whom he could have referred, while other elected officials demanded his resignation. So far, Halloran has backed down and, while apologizing, has not left his post.
Nebraska State Sen. Steve Halloran invoked the name of one of his colleagues Monday during a speech in which he read explicit passages about rape from a book given to some high school students to read.
The passages that have caused tension among lawmakers come from Alice Sebold’s memoir “Lucky,” which details her rape on the Syracuse University campus during her freshman year.
Apparently, the Republican lawmaker was trying to highlight the harsh and inappropriate nature of the reading materials provided to high school students across the state.
In state legislatures across the country, lawmakers are working to eliminate reading materials from public school libraries that they and some local parents deem inappropriate.
It was not entirely clear who “Senator Cavanaugh” Halloran was referring to, Machaela Cavanaugh, or her brother, State Sen. John Cavanaugh – both Democrats.
“He started pumping me again while the base of my spine was crushed into the ground,” Halloran read. “The glass cut my back and behind, he knelt back, ‘put your leg up,’ he said, spread them apart, ‘give me some ab******’ , he said.’
On Tuesday, Halloran claimed he was referring to John, who had preceded him in a speech.
Immediately after her remarks, Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh tearfully called Halloran’s performance “disgusting” and “unnecessary.”
“Don’t start reading rape scenes and saying my name over and over again, Senator Halloran,” she said.
“You don’t know anything about other people’s lives. And I can tell you that the women in this instance were victims of sexual violence.
“I didn’t know you were capable of such cruelty,” she said, calling the stunt “unbecoming” to herself and the Legislature, and adding that other House members Both sides of the aisle had maintained a level of integrity during debate that he did not have.
“And I hope other Republicans will stand up and defend me,” she said.
State Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh tearfully rebuked Halloran’s use of her name in the graphic rape scene – although Halloran said he was referring to his brother – also state Sen. (John) Cavanaugh
Machaela Cavanaugh (left) pictured with her husband and children, called Halloran’s stunt ‘inappropriate’, ‘unnecessary’, ‘cruel’ and ‘unseemly’
On Tuesday, Halloran apologized for referring to his colleague during the Senate speech.
“I apologize for inserting the names of the senators in the middle of the reading of a transcript, of a testimony transcribed during a public hearing, in reference to a book which is in some schools and whose reading is compulsory in some schools,” he said.
“It was a difficult thing to read. And no, I was not trivializing rape. I was reading a book that is required reading for some students. Should I have interrupted the senators’ names? No.
“Sometimes we do things on the field when we make a statement that we shouldn’t have made.”
Machaela Cavanaugh said Tuesday that she did not believe Halloran was referring to her brother during the speech.
Machaela (right) serves in the Nebraska State Legislature with her brother John Cavanaugh (left) – both are Democrats
Independent senator Megan Hunt said she believed Halloran should resign.
“The problem is not that rape victims wrote about their experiences. The problem is standing on a platform as a state senator and preparing to tell one of your colleagues to perform oral sex on you,” she wrote in an X post.
The chamber’s youngest member, Republican Julia Slama, spoke out following her colleague’s apology, calling his comments “totally inappropriate” and calling on him to resign.
Republican Sen. Brad von Gillern also denounced Halloran’s speech, tearfully saying that as a man and the father of a rape victim, he “couldn’t help but take it personally.”
State Sen. Joni Albrecht, also a Republican and the bill’s sponsor, told Cavanaugh, “I’m really sorry that your name was put in there…I’ll be the first to stand up and say, ‘I’m Sorry “. . “‘