OMAHA, Neb. (CN) — When the Nebraska Freedom Coalition called state Senator Megan Hunt a "groomer" in a tweet this past spring, it was not implying criminality, a lawyer for the group said Friday.
Instead, it was saying that Hunt, the mother of a 13-year-old transgender boy, was grooming her child for activism, said Robert Sullivan, who is representing the Coalition in a defamation lawsuit filed by Hunt.
Arguments on the defendants’ motion to dismiss were heard Friday in the fourth-floor courtroom of Douglas County District Court Judge Todd O. Engleman. He did not immediately announce a decision.
“The evidence that is laid forth in the complaint is not tying any allegations of sexual misconduct or any kind of criminal actions to the plaintiff,” Sullivan said in court Friday.
“It would go to … the training to be an activist,” Sullivan added in an interview with Courthouse News outside of the courtroom. “Certainly not one where there is an accusation of child abuse. And nothing sexual or abusive in nature.”
Hunt’s lawyer, former state Senator Adam Morfeld, said that under Nebraska case law the defendant does not have to explicitly state Hunt is committing a crime. And grooming is defined in Nebraska law as criminal.
“This is not a general accusation calling an elected leader a liar or a crook,” he said in court. “The defendant accused a mother, the plaintiff, of specifically abusing her 13-year-old child by calling her a ‘groomer.’”
Morfeld said the statement was made with malice and was repeated multiple times. “The defendants wish to create ambiguity where, quite frankly, there is none.”
The hearing was over in a little more than six minutes.
According to Hunt's complaint filed June 27, the coalition called Hunt a "groomer" in a tweet published March 22, which included childhood photos of her now 13-year-old transgender son. The group also published a tweet on March 24 in which it described the Democratic lawmaker's "skills" as " grooming children, including her own.”
Use of the word "grooming" among conservatives in connection to the transgender community has gained traction over the past year.
Not addressed in Friday’s hearing was something that took up a substantial amount of Hunt’s complaint: That the tweets have caused her emotional distress and made her fear for her and her child's physical safety.
‘“She was threatened with death. She was told that her genitalia should be cut off, she had her address posted online telling people about her child. This is serious," Morfeld told Courthouse News in June. Hunt and Morfeld are Democrats.
The tweets were published after Hunt shared that her son was transgender on the floor of the Legislature during a debate on a measure that would restrict gender-affirming care for those younger than 19.
The proposal was the flashpoint of a nearly session-long filibuster led by state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh of Omaha, aided by progressive allies like Hunt, that drastically slowed the unicameral Legislature's business during the session that ran from this past January to June.
The contentious session ended with the Legislature passing a bill that both restricted gender-affirming care for minors and banned abortion at 12 weeks. Republican Governor Jim Pillen signed the bill in May.
The complaint also names Malia Shirley, Patrick Peterson and Robert Anthony, who are officers of the coalition, as defendants.
Hunt is not asking for a specific monetary award.
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