Lawmakers in Louisiana on Tuesday
overrode Governor John Bel Edwards' veto of a bill banning
gender-affirming care for transgender minors.
Edwards, a Democrat, vetoed three
anti-LGBTQ bills early last month.
“My judgment today is those bills are
wrong,” Edwards said in announcing his decision.
The Legislature, which is controlled by
Republicans, successfully overturned Edwards' veto during a one-day
session held Tuesday. Lawmakers failed to override the governor's
veto of a “Don't Say Gay” bill (HB 466) and a bill that sought to
restrict the use of pronouns in public schools (HB 81).
When the ban takes effect on January 1,
Louisiana will join 20 other states with similar laws. Civil rights
groups are challenging these laws in court.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocate, said that such laws put
transgender youth “in very real danger.”
“LGBTQ+ youth in Louisiana deserve
better than to be the targets of discriminatory legislative attacks,”
HRC said in a statement. “Denying transgender and non-binary youth
access to best-practice, life-saving medical care puts their lives in
very real danger. Gov. Edwards did the right thing by vetoing this
bill designed to marginalize and erase the LGBTQ+ community,
particularly transgender youth. But unfortunately, Louisiana
legislators continue to pander to an extreme portion of their base
through unrelenting attacks on vulnerable children. They show no
shame.”
According to HRC, more than 570
anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in statehouses across the
country this year, an 80 percent increase from last year.