Louisiana
Accountability for the Louisiana Democratic Party’s failure to defend LGBTQ+ rights
A Pride flag reads “Abide No Hatred” is hung at the entrance of Castaways, venue for the third annual SWLA Pride Fest weekend, June 10-12, in Big Lake. (Photo courtesy of Pride of SWLA)
To the Democrats of Louisiana:
I publicly acknowledge my failure as an elected official to effectively defend my own community – the LGBTQ+ community – and, in doing so, I have also failed to uphold equality for all.
This past Saturday in Baton Rouge, the Louisiana Democratic Party LGBTQ+ Caucus introduced a resolution at the DSCC meeting. The resolution called on the state party to align with the national Democratic platform in protecting LGBTQ+ rights and to commit “to not endorsing or supporting Democratic candidates or officeholders who use their votes or their public platform to deny fundamental rights and protections to LGBTQI+ citizens.”
Ultimately, the majority of those present voted for an amended version that removed this key line. In other words, our party deliberately chose to weaken a resolution meant to hold accountable legislators and candidates who actively harm the LGBTQ+ community.
I understand that some who voted for the amendment did so out of fear that the resolution might not pass in its original form. However, the end result remains the same: the Louisiana Democratic Party opted to strip language that simply sought to uphold fundamental equality.
By removing this line, we have implicitly stated the inverse – that we are open to “endorsing or supporting Democratic candidates or officeholders who use their votes or their public platform to deny fundamental rights and protections to LGBTQI+ citizens.”
As Democrats, would we allow this for any other marginalized group? Would we tolerate party support for candidates who attack Black and brown people, immigrants, women, or those with disabilities? Defending and uplifting marginalized communities is a core tenet of our party – yet in this moment, we have failed to uphold it.
This failure is not hypothetical. Here in Louisiana, the only state that has never had an openly LGBTQ+ legislator, some of our own Democratic legislators have publicly supported and even sponsored legislation that strips away LGBTQ+ rights. Meanwhile, The Guardian reported last week that “Republican lawmakers in Montana voted en masse to help defeat two extreme anti-trans bills in an unprecedented move on Thursday, after powerful speeches from two trans representatives imploring them to reject the latest intent to criminalize gender nonconformity.”
The contrast is stark, and it forces us to ask: what kind of Democratic Party do we want to be?
The willingness to abandon marginalized communities is not limited to Louisiana. Nationally, some factions of the Democratic Party are veering away from progressive values in favor of donor and consultant-class interests. As Sam Rosenthal wrote in Common Dreams on March 5, 2024, “The party is very much at a crossroads: It can embrace progressivism and forge a new, compelling identity or it can take cues from the donor and consultant class and embrace the very policies that precipitated our current political crisis.”
The LGBTQ+ community is under relentless attack across the country. States including our own, have passed laws restricting gender-affirming care, banning transgender athletes from sports, and criminalizing discussions of LGBTQ+ topics in schools. There are efforts to redefine sex discrimination laws, weaken workplace and health care protections, and enable religious exemptions that justify discrimination.
Book bans, drag performance restrictions and inflammatory rhetoric fuel hostility, putting lives at risk. Already this year, legislators in nine states are working to overturn same-sex marriage. Last week, Texas introduced legislation that would criminalize simply being transgender, labeling it as “gender identity fraud.”
What is happening to transgender and queer people is the writing on the wall, and I am begging you to read it. We must demand more from our party. If we cannot hold our own to the most basic standard of equality, then what do we stand for?
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Louisiana
Federal appeals court upholds Texas’ Ten Commandments law. What does it mean for Louisiana?
A federal appeals court on Tuesday upheld a Texas law requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments, just weeks after the same court allowed a similar Louisiana law to take effect.
A majority of judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas’ law, which is nearly identical to Louisiana’s, is constitutional and does not violate students’ religious freedom. In February, the court lifted an injunction on Louisiana’s law, which cleared schools to put up the posters, but the judges said it was too early to rule on that law’s constitutionality.
Tuesday’s ruling could bode well for Louisiana’s law if it eventually returns to the 5th Circuit, considered the country’s most conservative federal court of appeals.
In their majority opinion, the judges rejected the argument that posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms would pressure students to honor the biblical mandates or adopt particular beliefs.
“To plaintiffs, merely exposing children to religious language is enough to make the displays engines of coercive indoctrination. We disagree,” the majority wrote about the Texas law, known as S.B. 10. A minority of the court’s active judges dissented.
Even though Tuesday’s ruling only addressed the Texas case, defenders of Louisiana’s legislation celebrated it as a victory. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said the 5th Circuit’s argument in upholding Texas’ law was identical to the one Louisiana made in defense of its law.
“Our law clearly was always constitutional,” she posted on X, “and I am grateful that the Fifth Circuit has now definitively agreed with us.”
Louisiana’s Republican-controlled Legislature passed the law in 2024, which requires all public K-12 schools and colleges to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom. A group of parents quickly challenged the law in court, and a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction that stopped the state from enforcing the law.
In February, the 5th Circuit reversed the lower court’s decision, saying it had been premature to block the law before it took effect. The judges said they could not rule on the law’s constitutionality before seeing how it played out in schools.
But in the case of Texas’ law, which that state’s Republican-led Legislature passed in 2025, the court did rule on the merits.
Rejecting arguments made by attorneys for the Texas families who challenged the law, the 5th Circuit majority said that requiring public schools to post the Ten Commandments does not amount to the government endorsing a particular religion, which the U.S. Constitution forbids. The law also does not impose religious beliefs on students, the judges wrote.
“As noted, S.B. 10 authorizes no religious instruction and gives teachers no license to contradict children’s religious beliefs (or their parents’),” the majority opinion says. “No child is made to recite the Commandments, believe them, or affirm their divine origin.”
The Texas families were represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Texas, Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and the Freedom From Religion Foundation, with the law firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP serving as pro bono counsel. The same groups, including Louisiana’s ACLU chapter, represented the Louisiana families.
In a statement Tuesday, the organizations said they are “extremely disappointed” by the 5th Circuit’s ruling, adding that they expect to appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.
“The First Amendment safeguards the separation of church and state, and the freedom of families to choose how, when and if to provide their children with religious instruction,” the groups said. “This decision tramples those rights.”
Nearly all major industries in Louisiana added jobs over the past year, signaling momentum for a stronger future, according to a recent report from Leaders for a Better Louisiana.
The organizat…
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SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Police say a man shot and killed eight children, including seven of his own, following a domestic dispute in Shreveport.
The incident took place early Sunday morning, April 19, on West 79th Street in the Cedar Grove neighborhood. According to the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office, the victims included three boys and five girls, aged between three and 11-years-old. Seven of the children were siblings, while one was a cousin. Two adult females were also injured, including one who was shot at a home located in the 500 block of Harrison Street.
One of the adults was inside the home on West 79th Street when the children were killed. She managed to escape through a window with two of the children and reached the roof. The woman jumped down with one of the children. Unfortunately, the other child did not manage to escape. Police later found his body on the roof with a gunshot wound. The surviving child was taken to the hospital with a broken leg.
The children were identified by their mothers as Jayla (age 3), Shayla (age 5), Kayla (age 6), Layla (age 7), Markaydon (age 10), Sariahh (age 11), Khedarrion (age 6), and Braylon (age 5).
Authorities say the suspect and father of the victims, Shamar Elkins, was the only person who fired shots that led to the juveniles’ deaths.
Authorities noted that Elkins stole a vehicle near West 79th Street after he shot the victims. He was pursued by patrol officers into Bossier Parish, where they discharged their weapons and fatally shot him on Brompton Lane. Louisiana State Police will take over the investigation involving the officers.
Shreveport Mayor Tom Arceneaux expressed his thoughts on the matter, saying, “We have a hurting community. We have hurting families. We have hurting police officers, coroner’s personnel, fire department, sheriff people, and this affects the entire community. We all mourn with these families. I ask, it’s a Sunday morning. I ask all of you who are, who are listening, who might be able to. Pray at your services this morning for not just this family, for all the victims, for the victims who are at the hospital, and for the Cedar Grove community and for the community at large.”
Attorney General Liz Murrill also commented on the tragic shooting, stating, “Multiple law enforcement agencies are investigating this tragic situation. We do not yet know all the details, but I am deeply saddened by the senseless loss of life. I’m praying for the victims and their family members in the wake of this devastating violence.”
According to the Director of Strategy and Communications, Mary Nash-Wood, two of the children attended Summer Grove, and at least four attended Linwood Charter School.
The police have not determined a motive. More updates will be provided as the information becomes available.
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