GOP state senator faces censure resolution for invoking colleague’s name while reading graphic details of rape

A resolution was filed Wednesday night to censure a Nebraska Republican after he repeatedly inserted a colleague’s name into a passage in a book containing graphic details about a rape that he read during a floor debate.

Nebraska Republican state Sen. Steve Halloran invoked a colleague’s name while reading a rape scene during a debate on a bill to ban obscenity and pornography in K-12 schools, which is already illegal, according to opponents of the bill under discussion, the Nebraska Examiner reported.

On Monday, Halloran read testimony from a March 24, 2023 hearing on LB 441, including passages from “Lucky,” by Alice Sebold, “which includes a graphic description of a rape Sebold survived in college.”

“Lucky” was one of the most banned books in the country during the 2021-22 school year.

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Reading the testimony Monday, Halloran inserted the name “Senator Cavanaugh” at the end of some sentences about sexual assault. He did not specify which Cavanaugh: Both Machaela Cavanaugh and her brother John serve in the Legislature.

State Senator Machaela Cavanaugh objected later Monday, retorting: “You know nothing about anyone else’s life. And I can tell you that women in this body have been subjected to sexual violence.”

NBC added that “she said Tuesday she didn’t believe he was referring to her brother.”

On Tuesday, after receiving calls to resign, Halloran said he was “initially” directing the graphic details of the sexual assault to his brother, as if men weren’t also victims of sexual assault.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that both Machaela Cavanaugh and her brother are Democrats.

In case this seems like much ado about nothing, here’s a rather shocking video of his behavior, which IS NOT SAFE FOR WORK and should be accompanied by a huge strobe light activation warning.

Here is the full video. I hate to share this, but it’s part of the public record and people should see what the fuck is going on in their legislature. #NELeg pic.twitter.com/sxw0cMG6Qd

– Senator Megan Hunt (@NebraskaMegan) March 19, 2024

Independent state senator Megan Hunt didn’t make it. “I honestly think Halloran should resign. How dare she even form her mouth to say the words ‘Give me a— j– Senator Cavanaugh,’” she wrote on Twitter/X. “She said it because she wanted to say it. She was over the edge. Pure aggression in reading a rape scene out loud and saying it like that. Broken brain.

He continued (my edit): “The problem is not that graphic language exists in books. The problem isn’t that rape survivors wrote about their experiences. The problem is standing on a platform as a state senator and fixing your mouth to tell one of your colleagues to give you a bl** j*b.

Yes, a Republican state senator demanded a sexual act from a colleague on the Senate floor as a way to counter a woman’s account of being violently raped.

Although an investigation under the Nebraska Legislature’s workplace harassment policy was launched against Halloran, a resolution was filed Wednesday evening to censure Halloran “for inserting a senator’s name while reading about a violent rape.” .

“It was read as him asking me to perform a sexual act on him,” Senator Machaela Cavanaugh said. “What happened Monday night was disgusting and offensive to me.”

Cavanaugh said a hearing on a censure resolution would help avoid “further victimization, further traumatization” of sexual assault victims.

“This body should stand for decency,” he said.

They’re not wrong. This is a clear act of aggression.

If we zoom out for a minute, we can see national examples of Republicans pushing revenge pornography into U.S. House hearings and harassing opponents by bringing their personal tragedy into public hearings.

It’s certainly not just Republicans who engage in this type of workplace behavior, but right now it’s elected Republican lawmakers who are making national and state headlines for injecting lewd, unsafe for work, sexual and personal attacks, aggressive and inappropriate towards them. what should be legitimate legislative and supervisory duties.

These tactics are not random, although it is fair to ask why people who say they are against pornography read something they consider pornography into a hearing. And then it’s also worth asking why they view the experience of sexual violence, shared by many, as something that should be hidden even as their policies reward sexual violence by undermining access and sometimes essentially banning abortion.

The “family values” party now continues to be the party that subjects citizens to shameful violations of decency on a fairly regular basis, and this is because their oversight and policy goals are a form of party warfare rather than real efforts to improve the situation. lives of their voters.

This is an aggressive form of obfuscation and deflection, intended to stun and hurt opponents into silence through public humiliation. But the person who should be humiliated in this case is Senator Steve Halloran, who made a show of his aggressive sexual fantasies during a floor speech.