The Louisiana Senate Health and Welfare Committee voted five to four, with the help of one Republican member, to kill a bill that would ban sex changes for minors in the state.
Republicans hold a one-seat majority on the committee, meaning Senator Fred Mills’ vote against the bill tipped a committee that would otherwise have approved it on a party-line vote. (RELATED: Texas Children’s Hospital CEO Announces ‘Heart-Wrenching’ Plans To Discontinue Child Sex-Change Program)
The bill was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Gabe Firment, who has clashed with Mills over the legislation.
“I always in my heart of hearts have believed that a decision should be made by a patient and a physician,” Mills said.
BREAKING: A bill that would have banned gender-affirming care for minors in Louisiana has died, following a 5-4 vote in a Senate committee meeting.
Chairman Fred Mills, a Republican, was the tie-breaking vote to defer HB648. He joined Democrats in opposition to the bill. #lalege
— Sara Cline (@SaraLCline) May 24, 2023
JUST IN: LGBTQ people in the South just got a rare victory when a Louisiana Senate committee killed a bill that would have banned gender-affirming health care for transgender minors. https://t.co/iwWBI4MMMD
— The Hill (@thehill) May 24, 2023
The bill stipulates that a “healthcare professional shall not knowingly engage in any act that attempts to alter a minor’s appearance or to validate a minor’s perception of his sex if the minor’s perception is inconsistent with his sex.”
The LGBT advocacy organization the Human Rights Campaign praised the committee for killing the legislation, calling it, “a dangerous attack on age-appropriate, best-practice health care for transgender youth.” (WATCH: DAMAGED: The Transing of America’s Kids)
A growing number of “detransitioners” are speaking out about the sex-change procedures performed on them as children, arguing that they were coerced into receiving harmful, irreversible puberty blockers, hormone treatments and puberty blockers while they were still impressionable minors.
