Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry may have an openly gay brother, but that doesn’t mean he’s on board with protecting members of the LGBTQ community in the workplace.
In a Thursday interview with local ABC affiliate WGNO, Landry applauded a state judge’s decision to toss out an executive order issued by Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards this week. On Wednesday, State District Judge Todd Hernandez ruled that Edwards’s order, which had aimed to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in state jobs, was unconstitutional.
Not surprisingly, the news devastated LGBTQ rights advocates, and was deemed a “setback with serious consequences” by the Human Rights Campaign’s Sarah Warbelow. Landry, a Republican, felt differently, arguing that such criticisms were “a bit disingenuous” in his interview with WGNO’s Susan Roesgen, which can be viewed at top. The governor, he said, was overstepping his legal mandate because people already “have a method by which to air their grievances” if they feel that they have been victims of discrimination.
”If anyone out there is actually being harmed, in any particular fashion, there’s a process in which you go about doing that,” he said, but did not elaborate further.
Later in the conversation, Landry was asked about his brother, Nicholas Landry, who is openly gay. Noting that the siblings had discussed their respective stances on LGBTQ equality, he said, “Look, I love my brother. That’s unquestionable... [But] we have to respect the law. We have to respect the Constitution.”
Landry’s remarks come just weeks after his brother posted an emotional video on YouTube talking about his estrangement from family members who had yet to come to terms with his sexuality.
“I want to marry a man and adopt a child and, most importantly, have a family of my own. Unfortunately, that isn’t something that my family can allow,” Nicholas Landry said in the Nov. 10 video, which can be viewed above. “Although I’m not political, I am a human being, and I just want my rights. So those of you out there who are worried or who are in the same position as me, you may not have an attorney general for a brother. But I want you to know that I stand with you guys.”
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