COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio Gov. John Kasich has acted as expected to veto a bill broadening access to guns and, in a surprise move, has expanded a years-old anti-discrimination order to include gender identity.
Both moves Wednesday are consistent with the two-term Republican’s recent shift away from his party’s right wing toward policies he characterizes as bipartisan common ground.
Among those are “red flag” laws allowing gun rights to be temporarily stripped from people who show warning signs of violence. Kasich’s veto message said he couldn’t sign a bill without such a provision, calling it “baffling and unconscionable” that Ohio’s GOP-controlled General Assembly was unwilling to even debate the idea.
His new anti-discrimination order, only effective until Jan. 13, prohibits discrimination based on “gender identity and expression” in state personnel decisions
