Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards SARA CLINE | Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. — Louisiana’s Republican-dominated Legislature overturned Democratic Gov.
John Bel Edwards’ recent veto of a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors on Tuesday, July 18. Louisiana, where the ban is scheduled to go into effect Jan.
1, 2024, will join 20 other states — including Texas — that have enacted laws restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care, which includes puberty-blockers, hormone treatment and gender- reassignment surgery.
Most of those states face now lawsuits, and in some places the bans have been temporarily blocked by federal judges. Like statehouses across the country, for the last three months Louisiana lawmakers have heard and held debates over gender-affirming care — something that has been available in the United States for more than a decade and is endorsed by major medical associations.