New Louisiana Governor to Rescind Anti-LGBT Executive Order Issued by Bobby Jindal

Photo via (cc) Flickr user Emily Brauner

Yesterday, GOOD reported on Georgia Governor Nathan Deal’s decision to veto a bill that would allow discrimination against the LGBT community under the guise of “religious freedom.” After passing in both houses of the state legislature, the bill drew heavy fire from the Georgia business community, leading to its veto by the governor. The anti-gay dominoes in the South appear to be falling: Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards has announced that he will rescind a similar bill in his state.

Last year, the Louisiana State Legislature killed a bill that would have allowed businesses and state agencies to turn away LGBT people on the basis of “sincerely held religious beliefs.” In response, Bobby Jindal, governor at the time, issued the Marriage and Conscience Order. The order protects individuals, businesses, and nonprofit groups that act in accordance with the “religious belief that marriage is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman.” The order drew a lawsuit from the ACLU.

Governor Edwards also announced that he will issue an executive order to protect state employees from discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. “Governor Edwards will issue the executive order, but it is in the drafting stage,” his press secretary, Shauna Sanford, told Deadline Hollywood. “As far as Jindal’s religious liberty order, the governor intends to rescind it in the near future,” Sanford said.

As the dominoes fall in the South, many have turned their eyes to North Carolina, where the governor recently passed a bill that bars transgender people from using bathrooms that do not match the biological sex they were born with.

You can join the fight against discrimination in North Carolina by using #WeAreNotThis on social media.