Warning — Ohio Statehouse Republicans are seriously considering overriding one of Governor DeWine’s most important vetoes.
WHAT THE LEGISLATURE WANTS TO DO:
Statehouse Republicans tried to sneak language into Ohio’s budget bill that would force libraries to hide books.
The language would require public libraries to hide all materials “related to sexual orientation or gender identity/expression” from kids and teens under age 18.
Command-F or Control-F search LIBCD5 in this document to learn more.
PROBLEMS WITH THIS BUDGET LANGUAGE:
PROBLEM #1: The cost and staff hours required to analyze every book that enters every library every day would be unsustainable.
PROBLEM #2: Smaller library branches may not have the physical space to follow this requirement. In other states with similar requirements, libraries have been forced to close or become “adults-only.”
PROBLEM #3: The language is written so broadly that basically ANY book could be included in its requirements.
Reminder: heterosexual/straight is a sexual orientation.
Kissing is related to your sexual orientation AND your gender expression
Basically, any book containing any romantic interest and/or romantic relationship would need to be hidden under this purposefully-broad law.
THIS BUDGET LANGUAGE IS ALSO LIKELY UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
This law would be an obvious infringement on Ohioans’ constitutional rights.
As the right-leaning Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) makes clear, the First Amendment “protects our right to listen and to receive information,” and public libraries “are government actors bound by the First Amendment.”
“The government also lacks authority to childproof public libraries, restricting adults’ access to information based on what authorities deem suitable for children”
A law so vague that it forces libraries to close, go "adults-only,” or even just spend a majority of their time deciding which books to hide is very clearly infringing on everyone’s right to access information.
Thankfully, Governor DeWine vetoed this unconstitutional budget item.
As the governor reminded his fellow Republicans, Ohio already has “strong laws on obscenity and material harmful to juveniles,” so a new, “vague” law is both harmful and unnecessary.
But one particularly dangerous politician is pushing his colleagues to override the veto and force this language to become law.
You may remember Gary Click from this recent post about his refusal to condemn Donald Trump’s direct ties to pedophilia.
Rep Click has become obsessed with overriding this particular veto and forcing the library restriction language to become law. His tweets about what he calls “liebraries” have become increasingly unhinged.
It is truly remarkable how often this man thinks and talks about children’s genitals.
Sadly, it seems like Rep Click’s persistence is wearing some of his Republican colleagues down. Remember, politics is mostly just psychology (read more here). You can literally annoy people into passing laws.
That means we need to push back even harder.
We need to make it clear to Rep Click’s colleagues that they would rather deal with him than with us.
Tell your state legislators to respect Ohioans’ First Amendment rights. Tell them NOT TO OVERRIDE the governor’s budget veto impacting libraries (veto #67).
Find your state rep by typing your address below this map.
Find your state senator by typing your address below this map.
DRAFT SCRIPT:
Hello. My name is [NAME], and I am a voter in your district. My zip code is [ZIP CODE].
I heard some legislators are thinking of overriding the governor’s veto to force more public libraries to hide books. I hope that’s not true.
OPTION 1: I respect our United States Constitution, which clearly protects public access to information and a wide range of perspectives. Why would any Republican vote against our First Amendment rights, even if they disagree with the content of some books? Aren’t Republicans supposed to support intellectual diversity?
OPTION 2: I have been deeply disturbed by how often State Rep Gary Click has been [tweeting/talking] about children’s genitals. Why is that his focus? It’s very [creepy/strange/weird]. I know he’s the main person pushing for this override. Please don’t listen to him. No one else wants more restrictions on our beloved libraries. No one wants our librarians spending all their time figuring out which books to hide. [IF APPLICABLE, ADD A SENTENCE ABOUT HOW YOU USE YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY]
Please do NOT override that governor’s library budget veto. It was a good, common sense veto that supports our libraries and saves our tax dollars from being wasted on nonsense.
Does [LEGISLATOR] promise to vote NO on the library budget veto override if it comes up?
I will be sharing your responses with my networks and urging more people to call you. Thank you.