Senator adds colleague name to rape scene

A US state senator broke down in tears after a Republican lawmaker inserted her name into a graphic rape scene in Alice Sebold’s memoir Lucky in a debate over new censorship laws.

Steve Halloran, a Nebraska senator, read from the memoir – one of the most banned books in US schools – during a debate on restricting pupil’s access to obscene materials

There was uproar when he inserted the name “Senator Cavanaugh” into the text, suggesting the material was too extreme for children.

He edited a passage so that the aggressor in the book asks “Senator Cavanaugh” to perform oral sex on him.

The 75-year-old senator didn’t specify which Cavanaugh. Machaela Cavanaugh and her brother John are both Democrats also serving in the Nebraska Legislature in the stae capital Lincoln.

But Ms Cavanaugh, 45, was reduced to tears, describing the incident as harassment and calling it “unbecoming” of Mr Halloran and “unbecoming of this body”.

“That was so out of line and unnecessary and disgusting to say my name over and over again like that,” she said, adding that there were women in the legislature who have experienced sexual violence.

Both Cavanaughs opposed the proposed bill, which seeks to stop Nebraska teachers and librarians from sharing “obscene” material even for educational purposes.

Before Mr Halloran started reading, he addressed “Senator Cavanaughs” in the plural and then continued by saying “Senator Cavanaugh” when describing a woman being raped.

Sebold’s Lucky is the author’s acccount of being raped during her first year at college.