Louisiana gov fails to notice girl fainting behind him as he signs bill requiring Ten Commandments in schools

Louisiana’s Republican Governor Jeff Landry failed to notice a young girl fainting directly behind him as hesigned a bill that forces public schools to hang the Ten Commandments in every classroom.

A girl in a group of young students standing behind the governor appeared to collapse while Landry smiled and soaked in the applause from his supporters at a Catholic school in Lafayette on June 19.

“If you want to respect the rule of law,” said Landry, completely unaware that the girl fainted behind him, “you gotta start from the original lawgiver – which was Moses.”

Louisiana is the first state in the US to require all public schools and universities to display the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

The legislation was part of a package of bills promising “drastic change” in schools in the state, where lawmakers had already forced classrooms to hang “in God we trust” signs last year.

Speaking at a GOP fundraiser in Tennessee last week, Landry said he “can’t wait to be sued” after signing the Ten Commandments bill. Shortly after Landry’s signing ceremony, a coalition of civil rights groups said they plan to do just that.

“The law violates the separation of church and state and is blatantly unconstitutional,” according to a statement from the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church, among other groups that are planning to sue the governor.

“The First Amendment promises that we all get to decide for ourselves what religious beliefs, if any, to hold and practice, without pressure from the government,” they said in a joint statement on Wednesday. Politicians have no business imposing their preferred religious doctrine on students and families in public schools.”

The measure requires all schools