Louisiana Lawmakers Advance Veto-Proof Ban on Transition Care for Transgender Minors

Louisiana lawmakers advanced a bill that would ban gender-affirming care for minors in the state, the New York Times reported. The legislation would ban hormone treatments and puberty blockers for young people, as well as gender-affirming surgeries.

Backed by three Democratic senators, the legislation was approved with a wide-enough margin to override a veto. John Bel Edwards, the state’s Democratic governor, has opposed the bill, but he will likely have no impact on the bill’s passage due to its legislative support. Last year, Edwards chose to not block a state law banning transgender athletes from participating in women and girls sports, saying the bill “was going to become law whether or not I signed it or vetoed it.”

If the measure becomes law, young people currently receiving transition care would be allowed to temporarily continue treatment, but the window would close at the end of 2023, per the Times.

Across the nation, GOP lawmakers have proposed laws aimed at the LGBTQ+ community, and bans or severe restrictions on access to transition care for minors have been enacted in 17 states this year. More than 50 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been passed into law across the country, according to the ACLU’s legislative tracker.

In April, after the Department of Justice announced that it had filed a lawsuit challenging Tennessee’s new law banning gender-affirming treatments for minors, Assistant U.S. Attorney General Kristen Clarke said “the right to consider your health and medically-approved treatment options with your family and doctors is a right that everyone should have, including transgender children, who are especially vulnerable to serious risks of depression, anxiety and suicide.”

The DOJ argued that the treatments are medically necessary for transgender youth diagnosed with gender dysphoria and that the banned care has been “recommended by major medical associations for consideration in limited circumstances in accordance with established and comprehensive guidelines and standards of care.”