During a Nebraska debate regarding book bans, Republican Senator Steve Halloran confirmed that conservatives are the problem rather than books when, in his desperation to prove a point, he pulled the cruelest and sickest stunt he could think of.
The book-banning movement, led by right-wing extremists, has been spreading across the country. It has even resulted in conservative politicians pushing archaic legislation that gives the government the right to control what individuals can read, as well as makes librarians vulnerable to legal actions for merely doing their jobs.
This week, such a piece of legislation has been the source of heated debate in Nebraska. Lawmakers were seeking to pass Legislative Bill 441, which would strip protections from librarians and educators and make them susceptible to being charged with a Class 1 misdemeanor for providing “obscene materials” to children.
Republican Sen. Joni Albrecht introduced the bill, claiming that it would close a “loophole” that provided a defense for K-12 educators accused of distributing obscene materials. However, Democrats and civil rights activists pointed out that the law is merely a means to criminalize educators for giving students access to any books that conservatives dislike and falsely accuse of being “obscene.” During the debate, Halloran left spectators sickened after he publicly read a passage from a book depicting sexual assault while invoking the name of his female colleague.
Democrats call for Steve Halloran’s resignation after horrific speech
A tired conservative tactic for banning books is for conservatives to obnoxiously disrupt every school board meeting and political debate to read questionable passages they found in books with no context. Of course, trying to implicate a book by twisting a passage around without any context whatsoever is not a valid argument. Still, conservatives continue to pull this stunt and act as if they did something so clever and grand.
So it wasn’t unusual when Halloran took the stage to read a passage of Lucky by Alice Sebold without context. The book is a memoir in which Sebold recounts her experience of being raped and the profound effect it had on the rest of her life. It’s already quite disgusting for anyone to read a woman’s deeply personal and heartbreaking account of assault to push their own agenda. However, Halloran did something even more heinous and decided to invoke the name of his female colleague Democratic Senator Michaela Cavanaugh during the reading.
While reading the passage, Halloran would add “Senator Cavanaugh” to every particularly graphic sentence while pausing to look at her in the crowd. At one point, he inserted her name in place of the narrator’s, stating, “I want a b*****b, Senator Cavanaugh.”
A visibly shaken Cavanaugh took the stage and responded with tears in her eyes to Halloran’s absolutely disgusting stunt. She told him, “Don’t start reading rape scenes and saying my name over and over again, Senator Halloran.” Cavanaugh went on to describe how he knows literally nothing about her or anyone else present, but she could tell him that there were definitely women in that crowd who had experienced sexual violence. She concluded by stating to Halloran, “I didn’t know you were capable of such cruelty.”
After multiple calls for an apology and his resignation, Halloran took the stage the next day and made a statement that hardly counts as an apology. While he admitted he shouldn’t have said “Senator Cavanaugh” while reading the passage, he also said he wasn’t sorry for reading the depiction itself and tried to defend what he did by claiming he was referencing Senator John Cavanaugh, Cavanaugh’s brother, who was also present at the debate. However, Cavanaugh stated that she belived the reading was directed at her. Also, it’s difficult to see how invoking a man’s name while reading a sexual assault depiction is any less disgusting than doing this to a woman.
Of course, an apology hardly suffices. What Halloran did could easily be classified as sexual harassment, and the fact that he did so openly and proudly is a clear sign that he must face major repercussions. An investigation into Halloran is allegedly underway. However, Senator Julie Slama, Cavanaugh, and Cavanaugh’s brother are not pleased with the time-consuming course of action. Hence, Cavanaugh has filed a resolution seeking to censure Halloran. The censure would not remove him from office but would be the highest form of disapproval and condemnation a senator can receive for poor conduct.
Halloran has declined to resign from his position. Although Cavanaugh called on conservatives to condemn his sick behavior, many are already speaking out in support. Many conservatives are jeering because they believe this is a victory as, for the first time, their idiotic contextless readings drew a reaction. However, being forced to hear your name repeated while someone describes an assault and appears to be threatening and making sexual demands of you is not even remotely the same as a high school student choosing of their own free will to read this book.
Meanwhile, Halloran’s actions prove exactly why books like Lucky are so important. They are not just meant to be a resource to those who have experienced similar violence but also to educate those who have not. It is intended to remind us that victims are humans and encourage empathy, understanding, and support. If Halloran had realized that Lucky is a real experience from an actual human being and not just a pile of words that don’t support his personal agenda, maybe he wouldn’t have pulled such a sickening stunt. Books are not the problem. The problem is when conservatives can’t understand that not everything in the universe is explicitly designed to push their opinions, so they twist things meant to help and educate others into something completely vile and evil.
(featured image: erhui1979 / Getty)
Published: Mar 21, 2024 05:25 pm