COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio House Republicans are considering overriding Gov. Mike DeWine's veto of a provision that requires public libraries to hide content related to sexual orientation or gender identity.
That possible change has been met with resistance by some librarians.
Danielle Welling-Harris with the Cuyahoga Falls Library, says the library wants everyone to find a book that fits them. "Libraries exist for everyone," she said, adding, "Just means so much to people to see themselves reflected in the pages of the story."
Welling-Harris said she was relieved when DeWine vetoed a provision in the state operating budget — one that would have required public libraries to place books referencing "sexual orientation or gender" in an area away from the public.
"We don't want to live in a library where materials are separated for something as simple as mentioning Little Women," she said. "That's a classic, but it mentions gender."
In late June, Welling-Harris held a campaign at the library creating a display showing the impact such a provision could have:
RELATED: Ohio libraries in last-minute campaign to pressure Gov. DeWine to veto book segregation
But even after the governor shut the provision down, she fears her display will need to stay up.
House Speaker Matt Huffman (R-Lima) called lawmakers back from summer recess on Monday to override one school-related veto that would restrict emergency, substitute and requests for increases on current levies. Some GOP lawmakers say it will, eventually, give property tax relief.
Watch coverage of how schools and property tax owners will be impacted by the override:
RELATED: Ohio House Republicans override one of Gov. DeWine's vetoes, restricting school levies
It isn't the only override Huffman had his eye on.
"One of the things that's been brought to my attention is... the library, adult materials and children's portions of libraries," Huffman said Monday.
Another provision he wants to override would have allowed counties to take money away from schools, and another would have changed state funding calculations.
"I expect we will take veto overrides on those two and likely some others also," Huffman told me.
State Rep. Gary Click (R-Vickery) is pushing the LGBTQ+ override and accuses libraries of indoctrinating children with LGBTQ+ content, specifically material around transgender people.
"They're answering questions for our kids that our kids are not asking," Click said.
A family shouldn't have to have "helicopter parents" to prevent their kids from seeing this type of content, he said.
"What we're talking about is sexual content, where we're talking about trans or gender dysphoria," Click said.
Other possible overrides include provisions that would have stopped giving tax breaks to computer data centers and one that would have prevented state and local governments from using eminent domain to obtain property for the construction of recreational trails.
Click said the library books are the most important.
"If a parent wants the children to have this, they can either go buy it or they go to the adult section and get it, and they can do that," he said.
He said that the Cuyahoga Falls Library saying it will need to hide content with pronouns on the cover is "foolish."
Welling-Harris disagreed because the provision is vague and said that libraries are not indoctrinating children by showing different identities.
"We are creating collections that are reflective of the real people that exist in our community," she said. "That's the reality of the world that we live in and, so we are here to provide options and to ensure that everyone sees themselves on our shelves and that our collection reflects the community that we live in."
She also said that libraries already follow Ohio's obscenity laws.
"We have procedures for our residents to voice concerns about library materials in their community, and that process is in place and working well," she said.
The lawmakers will likely attempt their overrides before the law goes into effect at the end of September. But, they have until the end of 2026 to override.
