Louisiana fails again.
Instead of staying focused on important issues that impact most of us, our state Legislature decided to pick on a few Louisianans.
Lawmakers passed three politically-charged, culture war bills targeting LGBTQ+ people. Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed all three of them.
Then the Legislature convened a veto override session, and one of those bills got enough votes to override the governor's veto.
State Rep. Gabe Firment, R-Pollock, brought forth the ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth.
Photo by Hilary Scheinuk / The Times-Picayune
Certainly, there were cheers from hard-right conservatives — and a few others — when Rep. Gabe Firment’s HB 648 passed, and then again when the Legislature overrode the governor's veto. The measure bans certain forms of gender-affirming health care, hormone therapy and puberty blockers for people under 18. It also threatens licensed health care workers with the loss of their licenses for two years if they assist with such treatments. It even appears to threaten unlicensed health care workers like receptionists.
Edwards described the bill as part of a “string of discriminatory bills being pushed by extreme groups around the country under the guise of religious freedom.”
Discriminatory? For sure. Extreme groups? Oh yeah. Religious Freedom as a justification? Unfortunately, that's the claim, but how can "religious freedom" include telling others what they can and cannot do if they don't believe as you do?
Consider how many of the 4 million-plus among us living in Louisiana are affected by state laws and policies. I don't expect those who don't drive to obtain a driver's license. I don't expect people who rent to care deeply about homeowners insurance.
But I do expect all of us to appreciate each other and deal with our differences by not getting into each other's business. How would you like your neighbor to tell you when to wash your car or clean your windows?
These things pale in comparison to personal health issues — yes, that includes gender-affirming surgeries, hormone therapy and puberty blockers.
Last year, the Legislature directed the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals to conduct a study focused on the "risks associated with gender reassignment procedures on minors, including genital and non-genital surgeries, and chemical treatments such as puberty-blockers and cross-sex hormones.”
The department complied, producing a report titled, "Gender Reassignment Procedures on Minors."
The report cites a 2013 American Psychiatry Association manual when it states, "Gender dysphoria occurs when an individual experiences distress as the result of an incongruence between his or her experienced or expressed gender and his or her assigned gender."
That's not a faith-based belief. That's a scientific certainty. More specifically, it's professional psychiatric expertise.
The Legislature asked Health Department professionals to research the answers to 10 key questions they provided. It seems they didn't read it, or they don't care about the responses.
Q: "The number and types of procedures performed annually."
A: "Zero surgeries ever performed on minors (2017 to 2021)"
You read that right. There have been ZERO procedures that supporters of Firment's anti-trans health care bill are concerned about. Sounds like a solution looking for a problem, doesn't it?
When it comes to cross-sex hormones (CSH) — such as estrogen and testosterone — and gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues GnRHas, or puberty blockers, the Health Department told the Legislature that an average of "14.6% of minors with GD received a CSH and/or GnRHa each year (2017 to 2021), with total number of minors treated each year as follows: 21, 33, 35, 35, and 57."
That's a small number.
In his Gov. John Bel Edwards wrote that the mislabeled "Stop Harming Our Kids Act" is "ironic" because it does harm kids with gender dysphoria and their families.
When this measure becomes law in January (2024), Louisiana that have restrictions or bans on some types of gender-affirming health care that includes puberty-blockers, hormone treatment and some gender-reassignment surgery.
The governor says the new law is so confusing and inconsistent, that "I must believe that many of its staunch supporters have never read it, word by word, line by line ..."
What our Legislature has done is hypocritical and without regard to the compassion and understanding they would want for their own children or grandchildren if they had GD. I hope they would love them enough to cry, gasp, grimace or smile — and then hug the child before researching GD and asking for professional health care help.
What small group among us might be next?
I pray we find our way to inclusion on this.