Recently, Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry signed a new law prohibiting state employers from forcing employees to lie and use false “gender identity” pronouns to refer to other employees. The law bans workplace policies in every state municipality and parish that mandate pronoun usage tied to “gender identity,” and protects employees from any punishment for refusing to address people by false pronouns according to their beliefs. The law goes into effect August 1, 2026.

Act 579 reads, “An employee shall not be required, as a condition of employment, to address another employee or any other person by a name other than the person’s legal name, or a derivative thereof, or to use pronouns, salutations, titles, or honorifics inconsistent with the other employee’s or person’s sex.”

Act 579 also defines “sex,” “male,” and “female” strictly on biological and reproductive terms based on a person’s original birth certificate.

The law overwhelmingly passed in the state House 66-32 and in the Senate 26-9.

Liberty Counsel, which routinely helps state legislators on cutting-edge legislation, worked with Louisiana officials and contributed to the bill’s final language.

The law derives its intent from the First Amendment which “protects not only the right to speak freely but also the right to refrain from speaking,” the Act reads. “Employment practices that compel speech on matters of political, ideological, or religious significance threaten individual liberties and freedom of conscience. The Supreme Court of the United States has affirmed that the First Amendment prohibits the government from compelling speech by requiring an individual to communicate messages contrary to sincerely held religious beliefs.”

The bill’s necessity and creation are due in large part to the egregious actions of the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, which unlawfully fired bi-vocational Pastor Luke Ash from his secular job for refusing to use false pronouns at the demand of one female colleague for another female colleague who wasn’t even present. In November 2025, Liberty Counsel filed charges of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) against the City of Baton Rouge, Louisiana and the East Baton Rouge Parish Library on his behalf. While Act 579 will not be retroactively applied to Pastor Ash, his termination still amounts to unlawful religious discrimination under the Louisiana Constitution, the Louisiana Protection of Religious Freedom Act, the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In a demand letter to the East Baton Rouge Parish Library, Liberty Counsel noted that the library had no compelling government reason to require Pastor Ash, or any employee, to violate sincerely held religious beliefs and speak pronouns that do not accurately reflect biological sex when employees are not required to speak at all. Liberty Counsel seeks the library reinstate Pastor Ash as a library services technician with backpay and revise its pronoun policy to respect the religious free exercise rights of all employees.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The First Amendment protects people from being compelled to express something against one’s beliefs. We commend Louisiana legislators for enacting this extra layer of protection. Christian religious beliefs simply prohibit lying, even by omission. Pastor Luke Ash’s stand for biological truth helped make this new law possible. The government cannot force people to use false pronouns and violate their religious beliefs as a condition for employment.”