Senators want NBA All-Star Game moved out of North Carolina
A group of senators are pushing the NBA to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina amid growing backlash over a controversial measure that blocks protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Patrick Leahy (Vt.), Patty Murray (Wash.) and Republican Sen. Mark Kirk (Ill.) sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver Tuesday, saying the association should “take a stand” against the law.
{mosads}”We cannot condone nor stand idly by as North Carolina moves to legalize and institutionalize discrimination against the LGBT community,” they wrote. “Nor should the NBA allow its premier annual event to be hosted in such a state.”
The senators said the law provides companies with “a license to discriminate, and no city council or county government can do a thing about it.”
The letter comes as North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed an executive order partially amending the measure but leaving intact a controversial provision that mandates that people use public restrooms that correspond to the biological sex as stated on their birth certificate.
The governor defended his move, saying he’s “come to the conclusion that there is a great deal of misinformation, misinterpretation, confusion, passion and, frankly, selective outrage and hypocrisy, especially against the great state of North Carolina.”
McCrory acted after widespread backlash over the initial law. Bruce Springsteen called off plans to perform there, and PayPal said it was walking away from plans to build an operations center in the state.
The NBA All-Star Game is currently scheduled to take place in Charlotte, N.C., next year.
The senators, however, noted in their letter Tuesday that they “hold no ill-will towards the people of Charlotte, who passed an antidiscrimination measure that HB2 overturned, nor towards the people of North Carolina.”
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