On Tuesday, Louisiana’s Republican-majority House voted to override the Democrat governor’s veto on a bill that bans sex treatments for minors and reassignment surgeries. The state House of Representatives voted, 75-23, to override Gov. John Bel Edwards’ veto and reinstate House Bill 648, or the Stop Harming Our Kids Act.
The bill prohibits doctors, in Louisiana, from prescribing or administering hormones and puberty blockers to minors or performing gender-reassignment surgeries on them. Governor Edwards had vetoed the bill on June 29, writing in his veto message that the bill tramples on "parental rights" and "denies healthcare to a very small, unique, and vulnerable group of children."
Edwards reportedly said, that sex-change surgeries on minors were not occurring in his state and that the bill is being fueled, not by evidence of a growing problem, but by "propaganda and misinformation generated by national interest groups."
Proponents for the veto applauded Edward's failed veto, saying that minors will "be safer now". Republican state Rep. Gabe Firment, who sponsored the bill, said in a statement-
"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,"
-Rep. Gabe Firment (R) LA
Mark Trammell, executive director of the Center for American Liberty, reportedly told Fox News-
"Vulnerable children will be safer now in Louisiana,"… "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." Adding…"The Louisiana legislature did the right thing here and the Center for American Liberty applauds its efforts,"
- Mark Trammell, Executive Director, Center for American Liberty
“Do your homework and stand your ground.”
-Peter Bart