Louisiana LGBT-rights Order Lawsuit Heads To Appeals Court

BATON ROUGE, LA — An appeals court in Baton Rouge is hearing arguments over whether Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards' anti-discrimination order — aimed at protecting LGBT rights in state government — violated the state's constitution.

Lawyers for Edwards and Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry were in court Tuesday. Edwards hopes the court will reinstate his executive order banning discrimination in government and state contracts based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He says a lower court judge wrongly ruled Edwards overstepped his legal authority.

Landry filed the lawsuit challenging Edwards' order. In December, a district court judge ruled that the Edwards order violated Louisiana's constitutional separation of powers and blocked enforcement of it. (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The judge agreed with Landry that Edwards' order was executive overreach, unconstitutionally seeking to create state law and trying to circumvent Louisiana lawmakers who refused to write such LGBT-rights protections into statute.

The Edwards administration says a governor has the authority to set policies and direct contract terms for the executive branch of government. It claims the order is consistent with directives issued by previous Louisiana governors Edwin Edwards and Kathleen Blanco.

But Edwards' order goes further than that issued by the two prior Democratic leaders. He added language protecting against discrimination based on gender identity, a provision that protects transgender people. Landry's attorneys have said that term isn't defined and could create legal problems and ambiguity for employers.

Edwards and Landry have clashed repeatedly since taking office in 2016. Landry is considered a possible challenger to Edwards in the 2019 governor's race.

When Edwards issued his order in April 2016, Landry blocked dozens of legal services contracts that contained the anti-discrimination language. After Hernandez declared the order invalid, the LGBT protections were stripped from the contracts, and that stalemate ended.

As part of the lawsuit, the two statewide elected officials also are disputing the scope of the attorney general's authority.

By MELINDA DESLATTE, Associated Press

Photo credit: Molly Riley/Associated Press