San Francisco Bans City Travel to North Carolina Over New Law

Mayor says he won't 'subsidize legally sanctioned discrimination'
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 26, 2016 10:25 AM CDT
San Francisco Bans City Travel to North Carolina Over New Law
San Francisco mayor Ed Lee banned city-funded travel to North Carolina over the state's "discriminatory new law."   (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, file)

San Francisco has banned travel to North Carolina in protest of what Mayor Ed Lee calls the state's "new discriminatory law," CBS San Francisco reports. Specifically, the mayor banned any city-funded and non-essential travel to the state. The Huffington Post notes he made an exception for travel that is "absolutely essential to public health and safety." This week, North Carolina passed a non-discrimination law that pointedly excludes lesbian, gay, and transgender people while simultaneously barring cities and counties from passing their own protections for LGBT people. Lee's travel ban is meant to ensure San Francisco residents don't "subsidize legally sanctioned discrimination," according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

"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," CBS quotes Lee in a statement issued Friday. HuffPo points out it's unclear how many trips to North Carolina San Francisco was paying for, but the travel ban carries "symbolic weight." Other governments and businesses, including Google and the NBA, are also making their disapproval over the North Carolina law known in various ways. Lee says San Francisco will issue similar travel bans to Georgia or any other state that passes laws discriminating against LGBT people. (More San Francisco stories.)

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