COLUMBUS, Ohio—A planned LGBTQ teen arts event at an Ohio library has been canceled after Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder demanded the library not “teach teenage boys how to become drag queens.”
Meanwhile, similar criticism has led a Delaware County library to move an upcoming “Drag 101” class to another location.
In a letter released Friday, Householder, a Perry County Republican, called the events “a stunningly bizarre breach of the public trust.
“Our libraries are an incubator for thought and ideas, for debate and discussion. On this point, we can all agree,” Householder wrote. “But I can also assure you the taxpayers aren’t interested in seeing their hard-earned dollars being used to teach teenage boys how to become drag queens. I expect this to end immediately.”
I sent this letter to the Ohio Library Council today. Our public libraries are great resources for young & old alike. But they should not be a resource for teenage boys to learn how to dress in drag. I demand it stop now !!! pic.twitter.com/RpM8Wds1KB
— Speaker Larry Householder (@HouseholderOH) May 31, 2019
Householder didn’t list any particular libraries by name in the letter, which was addressed “to whom it may concern.” But House GOP spokeswoman Gail Crawley stated in an email that the speaker penned the letter in response to a “Drag 101” class that was initially scheduled to be held at the Delaware County District Library next Wednesday, as well as a planned “Galaxy of Diversity: A LGBTQ Teen Event” next Friday at the Emerson R. Miller library in Newark (which is near, but not in, Householder’s district).
Organizers of the Delaware County class, taught by former Miss Gay Ohio America and local drag queen Selena T. West, have moved it to a local comics shop after library officials said they received hundreds of calls and emails, some of which included what they called “veiled threats,” according to the Columbus Dispatch.
Licking County Library Director Babette Wofter, meanwhile, told the Newark Advocate that she canceled the “Galaxy of Diversity” event because it became too difficult for the organization to control the misinformation circulating about it.
The Newark County Pride Coalition, which was co-sponsoring the “Galaxy of Diversity” event, stated in an open letter of its own that the event was meant to be an arts and crafts project and safe-sex educational program, with only an “optional make-up tutorial.” The coalition noted that no public money would have been used for the program, which would have been funded by a non-governmental grant.
The coalition asked Householder to respect the civil liberties of Newark residents, noting that the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed the freedoms of speech and expression for the LGBTQ community.
“We also ask that, in the future, Speaker Householder take the time to gather accurate facts, prior to issuing a factually inaccurate response to a program hosted by and for our community,” the coalition stated in its letter.
Householder, though, dismissed criticism that he was looking to squelch free speech.
“Let me be crystal clear: This isn’t about banning books or banning thought or any other red herring argument,” he wrote. “This is about right and wrong. This is about being good stewards of the public’s money.”
A group of House Democrats from Central Ohio, in a release, called Householder’s comments “unfortunate.
“Let’s be clear—the promise of America is not that we all agree on everything—but that we all agree to let everyone have their voice. That is certainly true for the nearly 500,000 LGBTQ Ohioans," the Democrats said in a statement "At a time when the national political discourse has reached new lows—let us in Ohio embrace our diversity so that all can flourish.”