Louisiana governor vetoes anti-trans athlete bill: 'Discrimination is not a Louisiana value'

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed legislation Tuesday that would have banned transgender youth from participating on girls' or women's school sports teams.

"As I have said repeatedly when asked about this bill, discrimination is not a Louisiana value, and this bill was a solution in search of a problem that simply does not exist in Louisiana," Edwards said in a statement.

In May, the bill easily passed Louisiana's Republican-led legislature, with supporters claiming it was necessary to protect young women from unfair competition. It would have prevented schools from being sued for discrimination against transgender students, CNN reported, while allowing cisgender athletes to sue if they felt "deprived of an athletic opportunity."

However, as the Democratic governor argued in his statement, even the bill's author, Republican Sen. Beth Mizell, "acknowledged throughout the legislative session that there wasn't a single case where this was an issue."

"Further, it would make life more difficult for transgender children, who are some of the most vulnerable Louisianans when it comes to issues of mental health," said Edwards.

The bill, known as the Fairness in Women's Sports Act, aimed to bar transgender girls and women from competing on athletic teams or in sporting events designed for girls or women at elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools.

"We should be looking for more ways to unite rather than divide our citizens," Edwards said. "And while there is no issue to be solved by this bill, it does present real problems in that it makes it more likely that NCAA and professional championships, like the 2022 Final Four, would not happen in our state. For these and for other reasons, I have vetoed the bill."

It is unclear whether lawmakers will seek to override the governor's veto.

Similar legislation has now been introduced in over half the states.

"These are organized anti-transgender forces, people who are ideologically anti-transgender, who are trying to push this everywhere that they can," Rodrigo Heng-Lehtinen, deputy executive director for the National Center for Transgender Equality, told Insider.