By Will Hall, Baptist Message executive editor
BATON ROUGE, La. (LBM) – The “Stop Harming Our Kids Act,” which prevents doctors and therapists from performing irreversible transgender procedures on minors who are incapable of giving informed consent, passed the Louisiana Senate, June 5, by a vote of 29-10 (eclipsing an earlier Senate supermajority), giving it final passage in the legislature and sending it to Gov. John Bel Edwards’s desk.
SHOWDOWN
The bill, HB 648, by Rep. Gabe Firment, a deacon with the First Baptist Church, Pollock, now faces a showdown with the governor, who actively lobbied to successfully kill the bill, 5-4, in the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, May 24, after the measure had sailed through the House Committee on Health and Welfare, 14-3, May 4, and on the House floor, 71-24 (a supermajority), May 16.
The 29 favorable votes on June 5 were a pickup of three supporters since the Senate voted 26-12 (one absence) — a supermajority — on June 1. That vote removed responsibility for hearing the bill from the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare (which had tanked the legislation), and transferred it to the Senate Committee on Judiciary A, which favorably considered it (4-0, with three Democrats boycotting the vote) on June 2 and sent it back to the Senate for final passage.
Sen. Stewart Cathey, a member of the First Baptist Church, West Monroe, rescued the bill in the Senate during the June 1 session when he moved for the chamber to suspend the rules and move the bill to a different committee.
Now, HB 648 could be vetoed by Gov. Edwards, which is a possibility given his strongarm effort that initially defeated it. But it is also possible that he does not want to face an override session as the end to his two-term legacy. Consequently, he could choose to let the bill become law without him signing it.
KEY PROTECTIONS
HB 648 specifically prohibits “healthcare professionals from knowingly committing any of the following acts that attempt to alter a minor’s appearance in an attempt to validate a minor’s perception of his sex if the minor’s perception is inconsistent with his biological sex.” The banned procedures include puberty blockers, cross-sex hormone therapy (“prescription or administration of testosterone, estrogen, or progesterone”) and sex reassignment surgeries.
Another key provision in the “Stop Harming Our Kids Act” allows children, who have been subjected to chemical or surgical transitioning, to file lawsuits against the doctors and therapists who approved or performed such procedures. Moreover, the children’s right to sue is extended until they reach the age of 30 years old.
