California has just announced an addition to its ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel to states with LGBTQ discriminating laws. The original state measure, AB 1887, was put into effect as a law this past January. The law originally included Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee. As of June 22, Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas are now included on the list. The ban puts restrictions on state-funded or state-sponsored travel to the listed states.

The law says California is “a leader in protecting civil rights and preventing discrimination” and should not support or finance “discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”

The travel ban does not prohibit personally funded travel to any of the states. There are also exceptions to the ban. For instance, travel that is required for maintaining grant funding or licensure, or for auditing and revenue collection purposes, will continue to be allowed.

Why Now?

The travel ban additions were created largely in response to recent legislation in Alabama, South Dakota and Texas that may potentially keep LGBT parents from adopting or fostering children. Kentucky, on the other hand, recently passed a religious freedom bill permitting students to exclude LGBTQ peers from campus groups. The ban also extends to states which California sees as religiously intolerant, such as  states that don’t protect religious freedom or use religious freedom as a basis for discrimination.

“Our country has made great strides in dismantling prejudicial laws that have deprived too many of our fellow Americans of their precious rights. Sadly, that is not the case in all parts of our nation, even in the 21st century,” says California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in a public statement.

Reactions from Texas

In response to Becerra’s decision, Republican lawmakers from Texas have begun calling for their own legislation to ban state-funded travel to California.

John Wittman, a spokesman for Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott says, “California may be able to stop their state employees, but they can’t stop all the businesses that are fleeing over taxation and regulation, and relocating to Texas.”

Not everyone in Texas is on the defensive, though. Texas Competes, a coalition of pro-LGBT businesses in Texas, has expressed concern over the impact of California’s travel ban. The organization is especially concerned about the impact this will have on future meetings, conventions, and sporting events, as University of California and California State University systems are included in the ban. Texas Competes released the following statement on its Twitter page:

“Tourism is Texas’ second-largest industry. Half our tourism revenue comes from outside visitors. Losses in this industry have real impacts on Texans, with ripple effects felt by small businesses, workers, and local and state budgets. To ignore or belittle the risks to this industry is to ignore both the health of the state budget and the countless small businesses and families that rely on a thriving tourism economy to stay afloat.

What is clear, and what has been clear for some time, is that a discriminatory brand creates significant and unnecessary economic risk for the state of Texas. Texas Competes will continue to call for a welcoming, inclusive state as a matter of economic competitiveness and long-term health.”

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