METAIRIE, La. (WGNO) – Louisiana’s top lawyer, Attorney General Jeff Landry, says he’s “pleased” that a state judge has tossed out Governor Jon Bel Edwards’ executive order prohibiting discrimination based on race, gender, religion and sexuality in state jobs.
The irony is that Landry’s own brother Nicholas Landry is a gay man who potentially could face the discrimination the Governor’s order was intended to prevent.
In November, Nicholas Landry posted an emotional online video, saying he was estranged from his family and “faced with a dilemma.”
“My coming out process was not the easiest time,” he says in the video, “and now that I’m standing on my own, I know I can’t sit silent anymore.”
“I’m not really into politics,” Nicholas says, “(but) Jeffrey is suing…to block the right for equal marriage and equal rights in the state of Louisiana… It’s that kind of hatred and that kind of bigotry and that type kind of discrimination that is, just, uncalled for.”
But according to his brother- the Attorney General- the law is the law.
“I love my brother,” Jeff Landry tells WGNO’s Susan Roesgen, “that’s unquestionable… (but) what I tell him is that we have to respect the law. We have to respect the Constitution.”
On Wednesday, Judicial District Court Judge Todd Hernandez agreed with Landry’s argument that Governor Edwards’ anti-discrimination order was “an infringement upon the constitutional authority” of the state legislature.
The Governor promises to “vigorously appeal” that ruling.
See an excerpt of WGNO’s interview with Attorney General Jeff Landry about the court ruling here: