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The National Basketball Association is expressing concern over North Carolina’s passage of a law that limits transgender rights and may move the scheduled 2017 All Star game from Charlotte as a result.
"The NBA is dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all who attend our games and events," said an NBA statement released after the law's enaction last week. "We are deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect and do not know yet what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte."
The NBA’s All Star game is a popular annual event that pits star performers from the Eastern and Western Conferences against each other in a friendly contest.
The discriminatory law, which also bars local governments in North Carolina from raising the minimum wage above US$7.25 an hour, has also drawn condemnation from San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee, who said he will ban city employees from traveling to North Carolina on public business.
“We are standing united as San Franciscans to condemn North Carolina’s new discriminatory law that turns back the clock on protecting the rights of all Americans including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals,” Lee said in a statement released Friday.
“Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded city employee travel to the state of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety,” he said.
The North Carolina legislation came in response to a provision approved last month in Charlotte, the state's largest city, as part of an expanded nondiscrimination ordinance that added protections for marital and familial status, sexual orientation, gender expression and gender identity.
The law signed last Wednesday overturns that ordinance and makes it illegal for someone to use a public bathroom and locker room that does not correspond to their biological sex.
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