With 2024 approaching, several laws are slated to take effect surrounding the LGBTQ+ agenda and children. This includes laws banning transgender care for minors. From California to Ohio, here’s a roundup of laws pertaining to this issue that are scheduled to take effect in the new year.
Louisiana
Louisiana will join over 20 other states with laws on the books banning experimental, irreversible so-called “gender-affirming” care for minors. This includes puberty blockers, hormone therapy treatment, and sex reassignment surgery. This ban will take effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
According to PBS, the state’s “Republican-dominated” legislature overturned a veto on the legislation by outgoing Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards. Reportedly, the state legislature held a one-day veto session, the third time one has been held since 1974. And, it marked the second time lawmakers successfully overrode the governor.
“I think that in this instance, in following other Southern states passing this bill, legislators put politics over people without considering the practical impacts of the bill,” Edwards said in a veto message. “I firmly believe that the legislature has overstepped its authority and is interfering in critical healthcare decisions that only parents should make in consultation with their children and their children’s physicians and psychologists.”
Despite this, several Democrats voted with Republicans to override the veto, including Rep. Roy Daryl Adams of Jackson, Rep. Robby Carter of Amite, Rep. Chad Brown of Plaquemines, Rep. Mack Cormier of Belle Chasse, Rep. C. Travis Johnson of Vidalia, Rep. Dustin Miller of Opelousas and Sen. Katrina Jackson of Monroe and Sen. Greg Tarver of Shreveport, according to the Louisiana Illuminator.
“Today, I was overridden for the second time, on my veto of a bill that needlessly harms a very small population of vulnerable children, their families and their health care professionals. I expect the courts to throw out this unconstitutional bill, as well,” Edwards said in response to the lawmakers overriding his veto.
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California
A new law taking effect in the Golden State on Jan. 1 will require some stores that sell children’s items to implement a gender-neutral section.
According to the California government’s website, the law will “require a retail department store that is physically located in California that has a total of 500 or more employees across all California retail department store locations that sells childcare items or toys to maintain a gender neutral section or area, to be labeled at the discretion of the retailer, in which a reasonable selection of the items and toys for children that it sells shall be displayed, regardless of whether they have been traditionally marketed for either girls or for boys.”
Starting in January, stores that do not comply with the law will be subject to a “civil penalty not to exceed $250 for the first violation or $500 for a subsequent violation.”
Illinois
On Jan. 1, Illinois House Bill 2789 will take effect. This piece of legislation is the first-in-the-nation state law that would prohibit state-funded libraries from “banning” books due to “religious or partisan disapproval,” according to ABC 7 Chicago.
Reportedly, House Bill 2789 declares the state’s policy to "encourage and protect the freedom of libraries and library systems to acquire materials without external limitation and to be protected against attempts to ban, remove, or otherwise restrict access to books or other materials."
In addition, the law requires that libraries and library systems adopt either the American Library Association's Library Bill of Rights or another written statement prohibiting the practice of banning books or other materials.
This Democrat-pushed legislation over “banned books” comes as parents have sounded the alarm on inappropriate books targeted at children infiltrating the libraries.
On the other hand...
Iowa
An Iowa law that was schedule to take effect Monday to ban certain books in classrooms, specifically those that include sexually explicit content, was blocked by a court on Friday. According to ABC 6, under the law, schools will have to have these books cleared out of their classrooms and provide an updated list of all the books twice a year. If a school fails to do so, the state Department of Education will give the school a written warning.
In a statement, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds reportedly said: “We are way off course, our kids and our teachers deserve better. They deserve the tools to help these kids succeed. Not a damn distraction on a nasty pornographic book that should never, ever be in a classroom.”
“Individuals will be held accountable for books that are on the shelves that may not meet the particular requirements of their law," said Mike Beranek, president of the Iowa State Education Association, added, according to We Are Iowa.
"This could mean possible loss of licensure, if they are found to be non-compliant with the law, which then would eventually possibly lead to termination of employment, and the inability to work in our public schools," Beranek continued.
On top of that, the state Board of Education is reportedly looking to establish a rule stating that teachers will be prohibited from teaching about sexual orientation and gender identity with children from kindergarten through sixth grade.
Ohio
Also on Friday, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine vetoed measures to protect women’s sports and to protect children from this harmful transgender treatments and surgeries, which Townhall covered.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine rejected the “Save Adolescents from Experimentation Act” and the “Save Women’s Sports Act” after the Ohio legislature passed the measures earlier this month. The legislation could still go into effect with a three-fifths vote in Ohio’s House of Representatives and Senate to override the veto.
In remarks on Friday, DeWine said that if the bill were to become law, “Ohio would be saying that the state, that the government, knows better what is medically best for a child than the two people who love that child the most, the parents.”
Idaho
In similar fashion, an Idaho law that was scheduled to take effect on Jan. 1 to protect children from irreversible, experimental gender treatments was blocked by a federal judge this week, which Townhall also covered.
District Court Judge B. Lynn Winmill made the decision on Wednesday, arguing that the law’s restrictions on this type of care for minors violates the U.S. Constitution, according to ABC News.
"Transgender children should receive equal treatment under the law," Winmill reportedly stated in his decision. "Parents should have the right to make the most fundamental decisions about how to care for their children."
"Time and again, these cases illustrate that the Fourteenth Amendment’s primary role is to protect disfavored minorities and preserve our fundamental rights from legislative overreach ... and it is no less true for transgender children and their parents in the 21st Century,” he added.
Republican Gov. Brad Little signed the bill, H.B. 71, known as the Vulnerable Child Protection Act, into law, in April. Any medical professional convicted of providing this type of care could be convicted of a felony and imprisoned for up to 10 years. At least 20 other states have implemented these kinds of restrictions on so-called “gender-affirming” care.
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