A Nebraska lawmaker faces backlash for invoking a colleague’s name in a graphic account of rape

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A Nebraska lawmaker is facing calls to resign after reading a graphic account of rape from a best-selling memoir on the floor of the Legislature in which he repeatedly invoked the name of a fellow lawmaker, making it appear as if that lawmaker was the subject of the assault.

Republican Sen. Steve Halloran, who is known for making audacious remarks on the mic, read an excerpt Monday night from the memoir “Lucky” by Alice Sebold. The book recounts Sebold’s experience of sexual violence when she was 18 years old. While reading a graphic excerpt about rape, Halloran said the name “Sen. Cavanaugh” several times, which appeared to reference Democratic state Sen. Machaela Cavanaugh, a female colleague.

The reading came during debate of a bill that would seek to hold school librarians and teachers criminally responsible for providing what it considers to be “obscene material” to students in grades K-12. Supporters say the bill closes a “loophole” in the state’s existing obscenity laws that prohibit adults from giving such material to minors. Critics say it’s a way for a vocal minority to ban books they don’t like — such as “Lucky” — from school library shelves.

Book bans and attempted bans soared last year in the U.S. Almost half of the challenged books are about communities of color, LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized groups, according to a recent report from the American Library Association. Among the books frequently challenged is Nobel laureate Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye.”

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