Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) vetoed three anti-LGBTQ+ provisions in the state’s latest budget bill yesterday, in a partial victory for civil rights that still leaves several assaults on LGBTQ+ identity signed into law.
The budget passed by Republicans over Democrats’ objections included a raft of measures targeting the LGBTQ+ community, including a prohibition on flying the Pride flag on state property; defunding shelters that welcome trans youth; language defining sex in the state as binary; removing library books related to sexual orientation or gender identity from areas accessed by minors; and denying Medicaid funding for mental health services for transgender people.
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DeWine vetoed the prohibition on the Pride flag, the defunding of youth shelters, and the mandate on library materials.
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“The budget is supposed to be a reflection of Ohio’s shared values,” Equality Ohio said in a statement shared with the Columbus Dispatch after the governor vetoed the provisions. The group said lawmakers tried to make the bill “a vehicle for cruelty.”
“But because of community action—because we showed up, we sent emails, we made calls, and we told your stories — some of that cruelty was stopped in its tracks,” the organization said.
DeWine, a lifelong conservative and former United States senator, was circumspect in explaining the reasoning behind his vetoes.
On the subject of youth shelters, DeWine told reporters, “We want homeless shelters to be open for everyone. That’s kind of it.”
Of the library provision, which ordered books addressing LGBTQ+ identity kept “out of sight” of minors, the governor said, “As parents or grandparents, no one wants their child to have a book or something that is inappropriate, something that is obscene. But I just felt that the language did not work.”
The provision banning the Pride flag would have limited flags flown on state properties to the American flag, the Ohio flag, the POW/MIA flag, and flags of official state agencies.
Wins for MAGA Republicans in the GOP-dominated Ohio House and Senate included copycat language from the president’s “gender ideology” executive order mandating the government recognize only two biological sexes, male and female, as well as a ban on Medicaid funding for mental health services for transgender people.
How the latter would be enforced in a mental health setting has yet to be tested and will likely be challenged in court.
DeWine also let stand a prohibition on distributing menstrual products in men’s public restrooms.
Republican leaders can override any of DeWine’s line-item vetoes between now and the end of the two-year legislative session in December 2026. The GOP holds overwhelming and veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate.
In January 2024, Republicans overrode DeWine’s veto of a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors and trans women and girls from participating in school sports in the state.
In November, DeWine signed a discriminatory “bathroom bill” into law restricting use of public school and college restrooms based on “biological sex.”
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