2,044 events on record Subscribe September 10, 2026
Standing Record home The Standing Record A non-partisan record of US democratic norms —
and the events that erode them.

Louisiana Legislature overrode Gov. Edwards' veto to enact HB648, banning gender-affirming care for transgender minors

On July 18, 2023, the Louisiana Legislature overrode Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards's veto of HB648, enacting Act 466, a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The House voted 76-23 and the Senate 28-11 to override, both exceeding the two-thirds threshold. The law bars anyone under 18 from receiving gender-affirming surgery, puberty-blocking medication, or hormone treatment and revokes for at least two years the license of any health professional who provides such care, effective January 1, 2024.

Jurisdiction
Louisiana
Location
Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Louisiana House of Representatives
  • Louisiana Senate
  • Gabe Firment (Louisiana State Representative)

On July 18, 2023, the Louisiana Legislature used its Republican supermajority to override Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards's veto of House Bill 648, enacting a ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors. The House voted 76-23 to override, and the Senate voted 28-11 following a reconsideration, both exceeding the two-thirds threshold required. The measure was carried by state Rep. Gabe Firment as primary sponsor.

Enacted as Act 466, the law bars anyone under 18 from receiving gender-affirming surgery, puberty-blocking medication, or hormone treatment. It revokes for a minimum of two years the license of any health-care professional who provides such care to a minor. The ban took effect January 1, 2024.

Louisiana's override was a rare successful legislative reversal of a Democratic governor's veto on gender-affirming care in 2023, extending a wave of state bans that included Iowa, Indiana, Idaho, Georgia, and Florida. By barring an entire class of medically recognized treatment for transgender youth alone and penalizing the clinicians who provide it, the law removed that care from adolescents statewide irrespective of individual medical circumstances.

Updates

2024-01-08 — Transgender youth sued to block the ban [4, 5]

On January 8, 2024, Lambda Legal, Harvard Law School's Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation, and Louisiana counsel filed suit on behalf of five transgender youth and their families in the Civil District Court for the Parish of Orleans, in Soe v. Louisiana Board of Medical Examiners, seeking to block enforcement of Act 466.

2026-01-15 — Louisiana judge denied state's motion to dismiss [6]

On January 15, 2026, Judge Ronald R. Johnson of the 19th Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge denied the state's motion to dismiss Soe v. Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners, allowing the constitutional challenge to Act 466 to proceed toward trial.

Why we recorded this

Equal protection and the right to medical care bar government from singling out a protected group for categorical denial of established treatment. Louisiana Act 466 prohibits transgender minors, and only transgender minors, from receiving puberty-blocking medication, hormone therapy, and surgical care that remain lawfully available to other adolescents for other purposes, and threatens the licenses of clinicians who provide it. By overriding a gubernatorial veto to impose this ban, the Legislature removed a course of medically recognized care from an entire class of young people defined by their transgender status, regardless of their families' and physicians' judgment.

Sources

  1. HB648 (2023 Regular Session) — bill history, veto override 2023-07-18, Act 466 — Louisiana State Legislature primary accessed July 16, 2026
  2. Louisiana legislature overrides governor's veto of ban on gender-affirming care for minors — CNN secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  3. Louisiana Republicans overturn veto on gender-affirming care ban — The Advocate secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  4. Lambda Legal sues to block Louisiana's ban on gender-affirming medical care for transgender youth — Lambda Legal primary accessed July 16, 2026
  5. Trans youth sue over Louisiana's ban on gender-affirming health care — CBS News secondary accessed July 16, 2026
  6. Victory! Louisiana Court Allows Challenge to Louisiana Health Care Ban to Proceed — Lambda Legal primary accessed July 17, 2026

See also