In Gov. Bob Taft’s recent State of the State Address, he primarily focused on the importance of creating and maintaining good jobs for Ohioans.
According to Taft, an important element of this push to improve Ohio’s employment situation is attracting the kind of cutting-edge businesses that will fuel the economy in the 21st century. He has repeatedly pushed for such commitments to high-tech jobs through his Third Frontier Project, which seeks to promote advances in the fields of biotechnology and fuel cell research and new medical equipment.
The Third Frontier Project is also part of an effort to combat Ohio’s purported “brain drain” problem. Taft is concerned that the best and brightest young Ohioans are leaving the state after college to pursue their careers in the more tech-friendly confines of Silicone Valley in California or other cutting-edge locales.
While an attempt to create a progressive economic environment is certainly a worthwhile and noble goal, Taft and other Ohio lawmakers should also consider the social climate in which prospective employees are to live.
When young Ohioans – as well as twenty-somethings from across the country – scan the job markets of various regions, it is more than just job descriptions and financial climates they are investigating. Potential workers also consider the intangibles of a region. Is it a fun area? Are there lots of young, exciting people? Is this a hip city?
It is no accident that areas such as San Francisco and Boston continually attract the best and the brightest in fast-paced research and technological advancement. Both have top-tier universities, such as MIT and UC Berkeley, that churn out the latest advances in numerous fields of research. Both areas are also home to large portions of young people – many of whom are not even involved in high-tech fields – who were attracted to the area because of its novel, socially progressive atmosphere.
Ohio is also home to some of the top research facilities in the nation.
Ohio State and Case Western Reserve, in addition to non-academic institutions such as Battelle and the Cleveland Clinic, are at the forefront in fields such as medicine, engineering and biotechnology. So why must we make such a substantial effort to recruit and retain high-tech talent?
To answer this question, we need only to look at the recent work of Taft and Ohio’s legislature. In April, it will be legal for Ohio citizens to carry a concealed handgun. In May, Ohio’s recently passed “defense of marriage” law, which seeks to “protect the state’s most sacred institution,” according to Taft, will take effect.
Many have argued the marriage law is redundant and smacks of discrimination. Add to this list the 2002 debate over including intelligent design in Ohio schools’ curriculum, and our state’s sanctimonious standing on social issues begins to become apparent.
Imagine this recruiting brochure: Come to Ohio – the home of cutting-edge, high-paying jobs. After work, head on down to the local watering hole to join your homophobic friends in spirited trouncing of silly theories like evolution and equality for all citizens. And don’t forget your gun.
Organizations such as the Human Rights Campaign have labeled Ohio’s marriage law as one of the harshest and most discriminating on the books. Ohio’s companies and universities have voiced concern that the ruling will hinder the recruitment of the best talent available because the language of the law leaves the status of benefits for domestic partners as questionable at best.
A New York Times analysis of Ohio’s marriage law lumps it in the same category as legislation being considered in states such as Oklahoma, Alabama and Mississippi.
It is certainly true that each state should be afforded the ability to pass and protect laws best-suited for its citizens. If Ohio’s lawmakers, however, wish to maintain such an old-fashioned social agenda, then they must live with the antiquated work force that accompanies it.
Michael Huge is graduate student in journalism and communication. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].
