COLUMBIA, S.C. — Louisiana’s governor issued an executive order Wednesday banning discrimination in state government based on sexual orientation and gender identity, and transgender people in South Carolina told state senators that a bill requiring them to use a public bathroom corresponding to their ‘‘biological sex’’ would put them in danger of harassment.

The majority of people at the Senate hearing opposed the measure, which mimics part of a North Carolina law signed last month that has brought a national backlash. No vote was taken.

In Tennessee, 60 business leaders, including the CEOs of Alcoa, T-Mobile, and Dow Chemical, asked lawmakers to kill similar legislation.

The events seemed to unfold across the South almost simultaneously as a fight over LGBT rights raged on.

The South Carolina bill, from Senator Lee Bright, would require multistall bathrooms on public property to be used ‘‘based on biological sex.’’ It would also bar local governments from requiring businesses to let transgender people use the bathroom of their choice.

Bright said he’s had enough of tolerance if that means ‘‘men who claim to be women’’ going into a bathroom with children.

‘‘I don’t believe transgender people are pedophiles,’’ the Republican said. ‘‘I think grown adult men would use this as protection to violate women in the restroom.’’

In Louisiana, the LGBT protection order signed by Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards prohibits state agencies, boards, and contractors from harassment or discrimination based on race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, political affiliation, disability, or age. He also terminated an order issued by the former governor. It prohibited agencies from denying licenses, contracts, and tax deductions to businesses to those who take actions because of a ‘‘religious belief that marriage is . . . the union of one man and one woman.’’