California bans travel to four more states over anti-LGBT laws
The US state of California has banned state-funded travel to four more states over anti-LGBT laws.
The announcement, made by California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in San Francisco this week, doubles the number of banned states from four to eight.
New additions to the list are Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas.
California banned state-funded travel to four new states
All four of the states have passed legislation in March which discriminates against LGBT+ people.
“The state of California is not going to participate in discriminatory conduct by other states,” Becerra said.
The banned list, originally put in place by Becerra’s predecessor Kamala Harris, also includes Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee.
Becerra said there was a delay in rolling out the ban because of the time it took to analyse the four pieces of legislation.
When asked whether California would cease to do business with states like Texas, the second largest state economy in the US behind Becerra’s state, he said: “Texas is a big state… [but] the consequences are real” for LGBT people in Texas and elsewhere.
He added that he would not rule out adding more states to the list if they introduce discriminatory legislation.
The Attorney General spoke in San Francisco ahead of the city’s annual Pride weekend.
Becerra earlier this year announced that California would keep North Carolina on its list of banned states, despite a partial repeal of discriminatory bathroom bill HB2.
Back in January, a law went into effect which banned state-funded travel from California to states like North Carolina with anti-LGBT laws on their books.
Following the deal to partially repeal HB2, mayors of several major cities reiterated travel bans and condemned the replacement bill.
