Ohio Republicans Launch Second Attack on Public Libraries
Another Conservative State Representative has introduced a bill, intended to work in tandem with the latest Republican attempt to criminalize the distribution of books that have been deemed "obscene."
On Monday, Ohio State Representative Al Cutrona (R-Canfield) introduced Ohio House Bill 622, that seeks to defund public libraries if so-called “harmful” materials aren’t removed or hidden from the public. The standard for determining what is prohibited by the ban is anything that could be seen as “harmful to juveniles.”
Under Ohio law, the legal standard for “harmful to juveniles” is very broad, and includes describing or showing any nudity, sexual conduct or obscene behavior. While a ban on nudity or graphic sexual conduct for juveniles may not seem that unreasonable, consider the impact that this new law would have on the distribution of Art History, Medical, or Human Sexuality books.
The parameters of “obscene behavior” in the new Ohio law are of paramount concern as well, considering that they are broad and could be triggered by material that has any LGBTQ+ characters or any controversial topics that involve race. Ohioans who are concerned about material can file a formal complaint to the state library board, who will then determine if the material is now appropriate for the public library under the new standard.
The State Library of Ohio Board is made up of five members, who are each appointed by the Director of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce. The director for that position is appointed by the current Republican Governor of Ohio, Mike DeWine. Governor DeWine has recently made substantial changes to the statue curriculum concerning how early reading is taught, and is currently being sued over new limitations to reading standards, that would prohibit students from relying on many sources of information to develop their reading skills.
The lawsuit involves an overhaul of established reading instruction that was passed in the July 2023 budget bill, which provides funding for evidence-based educator professional development, literacy coaches, and curriculum. The main contention is over “three-cueing,” an established teaching method that allows children to use outside cues for gaining meaning from print using word meaning and sentence context, grammatical features, and letters and sounds. Republicans in Ohio would rather children struggle to discern word recognition with no context clues.
While this latest bill would still allow certain materials to be checked out with a parental consent, there is concern that librarians will now be expected to babysit and police children who attempt to check out books. In May, another Ohio Republican lawmaker, State Representative Adam Mathews (R-Lebanon), introcuded a controversial bill that would charge teachers and school district librarians with felonies for “pandering” so-called “obscene” material.
These two new corresponding laws in Ohio are meant to suppress and ban material that might be seen by any citizen as obscene, which will greatly impact any books that might have characters or relationships that are not considered to be accepted by the mainstream. Ohio Federation of Teachers President Melissa Cropper explained how laws of this kind have been exacerbating the frustration educators have been facing all year.
“I think this bill is again just following the lines of the culture wars that we’ve been experiencing and trying to indicate that things are happening, that aren’t happening,” Cropper said, “We don’t need a law that threatens our school librarians or our public librarians around what they’re giving out [to] the children. These people are trained to look at materials trained to determine what is appropriate for certain age groups and what’s appropriate for people to read.”
In addition to their attempts to criminalize the distribution of reading materials by qualified and trained professionals, Republicans are now backing up their threat to ban books with what little funding is left for public libraries. Despite public libraries becoming busy during the summer months, facilities across Ohio have reported cutting hours, programs and even staff due to a lack of funding. As if the threat of a cut in hours was not enough for librarians and educators, now they have to worry about criminal charges for doing their jobs.
Amee Vanderpool writes the SHERO Newsletter, is an attorney, published author, contributor to newspapers and magazines, and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.
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I'm old enough to remember when republicons tried to claim they were for "small government." We knew it was bullshit then but now they don't even pretend.
They want to control what we read, believe, who we have sex with, if we choose to procreate, how we raise our teens, on and on. If only they cared so much about dead children, a la guns. Gun control = bad, people control = good.
Time to mass report the Bible.