Louisiana legislature overrides governor’s veto to pass gender-affirming care ban

A Louisiana bill banning gender-affirming care for trans youth will officially become law next year after the state legislature overrode Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto.

In June, Edwards vowed to veto any anti-LGBTQ+ legislation sent to his desk, comparing the Republican attempts to target the LGBTQ+ community with opposition to the Civil Rights Movement. Earlier this month, he made good on that promise when he vetoed three anti-LGBTQ+ laws: the gender-affirming care ban, a “Don’t Say Gay” education bill, and a bill requiring teachers to ignore student pronoun preferences.

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The House voted 75 to 23 to override the gender-affirming care veto, and the Senate voted 28 to 11 to do the same. The other two anti-LGBTQ+ laws did not get enough votes to override their vetos.

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The gender-affirming care ban will take effect on January 1 and will prevent trans youth from receiving gender-affirming medications and surgery (though surgery is almost never performed on trans youth). It would also punish doctors for providing this care by taking away their license for at least two years.

According to Axios, this was only the legislature’s third veto session since 1974 and, despite the fact that Edwards has vetoed a host of other bills, there was a strong focus on those seeking to strip LGBTQ+ people of their rights.

In a statement, Edwards pointed out that he has issued 319 vetoes in his eight years acting as a Democratic governor with a Republican legislature and that more than 99% of the vetoes have held. “Just two of my vetoes have been overridden… Today, I was overridden for the second time, on my veto of a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families, and their healthcare professionals. I expect the courts to throw out this unconstitutional bill.”

Indeed, gender-affirming care bans have been temporarily or permanently blocked in several states.

Edwards’ original veto letter was six single-spaced pages, and blasted the GOP leaders for trying to “generate concern and outrage where none was warranted.”

He concluded: “I believe that there is no legitimate state interest and no rational basis that justifies harming this very small population of children, their families, and the healthcare professionals who care for them or for the cruel and extreme consequences imposed on children through the overt denial of healthcare by this bill.”