A gay doctor who is one of Louisiana’s only specialist paediatric cardiologists has left the state after the introduction of a Don’t Say Gay copycat bill and a ban on gender-affirming care for trans youth.

Jake Kleinmahon, who was one of just three doctors specialising in heart transplants for children in Louisiana, chose to leave the state with his family, as they no longer felt safe.

Kleinmahon met and fell in love with his husband Tom in New Orleans, and the couple expected remain in Louisiana, even after retirement. However, he told CNN that the state’s anti-LGBTQ+ legislation made him and his family feel unwelcome and that he ultimately “didn’t have a choice”.

  • buddascrayon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    One of the laws the Republicans in Louisiana enacted was the “Don’t say gay” law. And they have children who would be going to school in such an atmosphere.

        • Rodeo@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          So it doesn’t make being gay illegal? Because OP said “illegal to exist”.

          It’s terrible, stupid, hurtful legislation, but do we really have to get so carried away with the sensationalism?

          • Jax@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            One of the first anti-Jew things done in pre-ww2 Germany was a one day boycott of Jewish businesses.

            It starts small.

          • tomatopathe@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            Sure, but there is a chilling effect.

            Imagine being Jewish and the state decides that being Jewish is so bad that you can’t explain it to schoolchildren, even those who might have questions about it. You think, as a Jewish person, that it’s a healthy state to remain in?

            This idea that teaching kids about sexual orientation means teaching about sex (MORAL PANIC PROTECT THE CHILDREN!!) is hot garbage, just a cover for conservatives to discriminate and scare gay people away. Just happens that one of them is the only pediatric heart surgeon they had.

            Teaching that is ok if Jane has two daddies/mommies is not teaching about sexual intercourse or anything of the sort. They just don’t want kids to know that gay people even exist.

          • Sentient Loom@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            A) I didn’t actually say it was a bad thing. I just clarified what the bill says.

            B) Nobody said anything about sex toys.

            C) The bill is a bad thing because teachers are supposed to teach kids about the world, and this bill prohibits that.

          • regalia@literature.cafe
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            1 year ago

            Please elaborate how you made the connection of sex toys to sexual orientation. I don’t understand how you got there.

          • tomatopathe@sh.itjust.works
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            1 year ago

            “Some people have two mommies or two daddies” is not “showing sex toys to people”, and you are well aware of that fact.