The cultural conflicts that play out in various states become complicated when the legislature and the executive come from different parties. Take Louisiana for example: in the Bayou State, the legislature is heavily Republican, while Gov. John Bel Edwards is a Democrat.
In 2023, the state legislature passed multiple bills that sought to counter the transgender madness that’s sweeping our culture. The legislature voted on and passed three bills: HB81 would have required teachers and school staff to use a child’s birth pronouns unless parents consented to use alternate pronouns; HB466 was Louisiana’s version of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education law; and HB648 prohibited gender treatments for minors. As one would expect of a Democrat, Edwards vetoed all three bills.
The GOP-dominated legislature began to work to override the vetoes, but Republicans couldn’t muster enough support to get to the two-thirds majority that the law requires to override the vetoes on HB81 and HB466. However, large majorities in both chambers voted to override Edwards’ veto of HB648, so that bill will become law.
“Thanks to the bi-partisan support of the Louisiana State Senate, we are one step closer to protecting children in Louisiana from experimental chemical and surgical sex change procedures. HB648 has passed both chambers of the state legislature with veto-proof majorities, and the people of Louisiana have made it clear that our children are worth fighting for,” State Rep. Gabe Firment (R-22nd district), who sponsored the bill, said in a statement.
Detransitioner Chloe Cole celebrated the override on social media:
I started my battle against medically transitioning children over a year ago.
The first state I shared my story with was Louisiana. Last year, Louisiana tried to ban talk therapy for kids with GD.
As of today, Louisiana has done a full 180 and has now placed age restrictions… pic.twitter.com/kJUipnKtYx
— Chloe Cole ⭐️ (@ChoooCole) July 18, 2023
Others who advocate for protecting kids from irreversible surgeries and a lifetime of hormone use cheered on the legislature’s actions as well.
“Vulnerable children will be safer now in Louisiana,” Mark Trammell, executive director of the Center for American Liberty, said to Fox News. “Governor Edwards’s failed veto shows that he cares more about appeasing special interest groups than protecting children from medical procedures and drugs that physically mutilate and sterilize.”
“The Louisiana legislature did the right thing here and the Center for American Liberty applauds its efforts,” Trammell added.
Related: Why Did North Carolina’s Governor Veto a Pro-Life Bill the Legislature Will Probably Override?
Edwards’ veto message for HB648 was a whopping six pages, and in it, he claimed the bill flies in the face of “parental rights” and “denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children.” He blamed “propaganda and misinformation generated by national interest groups” for the popularity of the legislation.
“There are so many fundamental problems with this bill that I must believe that many of its most staunch supporters have never read it word by word, line by line, like I have,” the governor concluded. “I think that in this instance, in following other Southern states passing this bill, legislators put politics over people without considering the practical impacts of the bill.”
In other words, Edwards parroted many of the same lines we’ve heard from Democrats anytime states work to protect kids. Good for the Louisiana legislature for standing up to Edwards and his boilerplate left-wing nonsense.
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