BATON ROUGE, La. — Two of three controversial LGTBQ-related bills vetoed by Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards are dead after failing to garner enough votes for a veto override.
The special veto override session in Baton Rouge began Tuesday. Despite having a Republican supermajority in both the House and Senate, Louisiana lawmakers did not have the votes needed to override many bills vetoed by Governor John Bel Edwards.
Two House Republicans were absent during the House vote. Republican Representatives Paula Davis and Joseph Stagni were absent, meaning there were only 69 Republicans in the House Tuesday. 70 votes were required to override a veto.
HB 466 would have banned any conversations on sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 schools. Republicans did not have enough votes to override the governor’s veto.
HB 81 would have limited names and pronouns teachers could use for students in school. It also failed in the veto override session.
HB 648, which banned gender affirming care for trans kids, was successfully overridden in the House, as several Democrats joined with Republicans to override the veto.
But in the Senate, where another two-thirds majority was required to successfully override the veto, there was pushback from the GOP. Senator Fred Mills, a Republican and pharmacist, encouraged his fellow lawmakers to sustain the veto and allow doctors to make decisions about their patients.
Still, the Louisiana Senate voted to override the bill, which will implement a ban on puberty blockers, hormones, and surgeries for transgender youth.
“Lawmakers who voted to overturn Governor Edwards’ veto of House Bill 648 have chosen to sacrifice the health and safety of Louisiana’s transgender children and undermine the rights of their parents," said the ACLU in a statement released following the override Tuesday afternoon.
A number of states have passed restrictions limiting access to gender affirming care for LGBTQ youth. Many have faced lawsuits and court rulings have temporarily blocked those laws in several states.
A bill dealing with vaccinations and information was also overridden, the bill will require that when information is sent home from schools about immunizations, that families are notified that they can opt out of them.