California joins travel boycott of North Carolina over anti-LGBT law
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The state of California has restricted official travel to North Carolina over the state’s anti-LGBT law.
According to the Sacramento Bee, yesterday California’s Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill that prohibits state agencies from compelling their employees to travel to states with laws that allow discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
It may allow employees to refuse to travel to as many as 20 states that have ‘religious freedom’ laws to permit discrimination against LGBT people.
The law also specifically bans state-funded travel to North Carolina over the controversial HB 2.
North Carolina has lost a string of big investment ventures over Governor Pat McCrory’s decision to sign the contentious HB 2 – which voided all local ordinances protecting LGBT rights, banned transgender people from using their preferred bathroom, and permits businesses to discriminate against LGBT people on the grounds of religious belief.
McCrory has continued to insist the rules are “common sense”, but a string of major employers are boycotting the state over the attack on the rights of their LGBT employees.
A projected cost of the battle so far, totting up the economic losses and legal costs, reaches a mind-blowing $395 million
The author of California’s boycott bill, Democratic Assemblyman Evan Low, told the Bee: “Our zero-tolerance policy says there is no room for discrimination of any kind in California, and (this bill) ensures that discrimination will not be tolerated beyond our borders.”
It is the fifth state to take action to boycott North Carolina.
