Seventeen state lawmakers, all of them House Republicans, sent a letter recently to Attorney General Jeff Landry applauding the state attorney for blocking state contracts that include anti-discrimination language protecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The protections were inserted in state contracts following at executive order issued by Gov. John Bel Edwards last spring.

The Oct. 6 letter authored by Rep. Mike Johnson, a Bossier City Republican who is running for Congress and who also serves as an attorney for anti-LGBT initiatives nationwide, commends Landry “for standing by constitutional principals in this sensitive matter. Sixteen of Johnson’s fellow House GOP representatives signed the letter, including four from the Acadiana delegation: Stuart Bishop of Lafayette, Phillip DeVillier of Eunice, Julie Emerson of Carencro and Erath’s Blake Miguez.

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