Judge won’t make official OK contracts with LGBT language

BATON ROUGE, La. — A judge has thrown out the Louisiana governor’s lawsuit seeking to force the state attorney general to sign off on legal contracts that include anti-discrimination language to protect LGBT people.

Judge Donald Johnson dismissed the case Monday, saying the law is unclear what the attorney general’s authority is in reviewing the contracts.

Gov. John Bel Edwards’ lawyer, Matthew Block, says the governor intends to appeal the decision.

The Democratic governor issued an executive order in April requiring a clause barring discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity to be included in most state contracts.

Edwards sued Attorney General Jeff Landry in September, after the Republican attorney general rejected dozens of contracts to let state agencies hire outside lawyers that contained the anti-discrimination language. The attorney general says Edwards’ order exceeds the governor’s legal authority.

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Melinda Deslatte, The Associated Press