Louisiana House Bill 648 becomes law on the first day of the new year. The legislation will ban gender-affirming care for trans minors in Louisiana.
Many political analysts had a strong feeling that the governor’s veto of House Bill 648 may not last. And on July 18th, lawmakers voted to override the veto by John Bel Edwards.
The odds of a successful override are vanishingly small. It had only happened twice before – back in 1991 and two years later in 1993. The challenge lies in cobbling together a two-thirds majority vote from members of both chambers – the LA House and the LH Senate.
Shreveport attorney and political analyst Royal Alexander opines that beyond the impassioned arguments for and against transgender health care, the veto override makes a statement of its own. “When you can get two-thirds, that’s what’s required to override a governor,” Alexander begins, “then that’s no longer just Republicans. There’s Democrats that are saying, ‘I’m not comfortable with this either.’ If there’s certain circumstances, then they are provided for in the law.”
Governor Edwards released a lengthy response to the veto override. Edwards predicts the courts will throw out what he calls “[this] unconstitutional bill.” Louisiana now becomes just the latest state to ban transgender health care, joining at least 21 other states.
