CBS NEWS – Dr. Jake Kleinmahon, a top pediatric cardiologist in Louisiana, is leaving the state with his husband and kids after lawmakers recently passed legislation targeting the LGBTQ+ community.
Kleinmahon, one of only three doctors with his qualifications in Louisiana, told CBS News the decision to leave was difficult but felt necessary to protect his family.
“If you’re at a place and there are rules that are made directly against your family, but not anybody else’s family, why would you want to stay?” he said.
Referring to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill as an example, he said:
“If that were to pass, which it looks like in the future it will in Louisiana given the political landscape, if our kids went to public school, and they were being made fun of because they have two dads, teachers would not be able to just jump in and say, ‘Hey, there’s all different types of families’ and celebrate the differences.”
Kleinmahon is leaving his job as director of Pediatric Heart Transplant and Heart Failure at Ochsner Hospital for Children in New Orleans for a new position in New York.
The moment that cemented the decision? He and his husband closely watched the last Louisiana legislative session where the bill was debated …
Louisiana’s Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoed the bills targeting the LGBTQ+ community, but the Republican-controlled legislature overrode the veto on one of the measures, which bans gender-affirming care for people under 18.
