Lawmaker called to resign for invoking colleague's name while reading a rape scene during debate

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Nebraska Examiner

Nebraska State Sen. Steve Halloran received swift condemnation across the political spectrum
By: Zach Wendling - March 18, 2024 11:03 pm

LINCOLN — A Nebraska legislative debate about keeping obscenity out of K-12 schools ended abruptly Monday night after a lawmaker, while reading a book passage about an explicit rape scene, invoked a colleague’s name into the reading.

State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings, during debate on Legislative Bill 441, warned state senators and those watching the livestream of legislative proceedings that he would be quoting from the hearing testimony on the bill. LB 441, Thurston State Sen. Joni Albrecht’s priority bill, seeks to crack down on obscenity and pornography in K-12 schools.

One person testifying at the March 24, 2023, hearing on LB 441 read passages from a book entitled “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.


State Sen. Steve Halloran of Hastings, chair of the Agriculture Committee, opens one of the committee’s hearings on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023, in Lincoln. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

Read more: https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2024/03/18/lawmaker-is-called-to-resign-for-invoking-a-colleagues-name-in-rape-scene-during-debate/

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Also see this breaking news in the Omaha World Herald: https://omaha.com/news/state-regional/government-politics/nebraska-lawmaker-faces-calls-to-resign-after-injecting-colleagues-name-into-explicit-rape-scene/article_01f63dea-e5f5-11ee-952f-2bcfc4a7b9e4.html

[viva la]

1. These rightwingers don't care about actual rape, like by their hero Trump.

But books about victims of rape? Now that gets their juices flowing!

[thucythucy]

2. I'm assuming Halloran is a Republican

but his party isn't explicitly mentioned in any of the articles I've seen.

Funny how that happens...

[William Seger]

4. NBC News says he's a Republican, but that's hard to find anywhere

Apparently, the nebraskalegislature.gov site doesn't specify parties.

[JoseBalow]

5. Yes, he is a Repug

Steve Halloran (Republican Party) is a member of the Nebraska State Senate, representing District 33. He assumed office on January 4, 2017. His current term ends on January 8, 2025.

https://ballotpedia.org/Steve_Halloran

[Marthe48]

3. How many of the holier-than-thou

enjoy watching true crime shows, or in the old days reading true crime magazines, that detail sexual assault, murder and other attacks on their fellow humans? My parents left their true crime magazines in the bathroom, and I'm sure I'm not the only one of my sibs who read them. As an adult, I can't watch true crime shows, by now, have given up reading crime fiction.

What is different from reading fiction that describes horrible acts of rape or reading a person's true account of surviving such a horrific attack?

[Srkdqltr]

6. How did he insert the name of a colleague?

I don't understand. Nothing new there.