Los Angeles — In reaction to today’s announcement by the NCAA that it will resume holding championship games in North Carolina, Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur issued the following statement: “Following the passage of HB 2, the NCAA boldly cancelled future championship games and led thousands of sports figures, business leaders, entertainers and people of good conscience across the country in decrying anti-LGBT discrimination. Today, in response to a bill that continues to maintain discrimination and that leaves LGBT people without full protection of the law, the NCAA boldly called ‘retreat’. The organization has chosen to condone state-sanctioned discrimination and has sent a message to North Carolina officials and to bigots everywhere that LGBT civil rights are not truly important and that the safety of NCAA players and attendees does not matter. While we are extremely disappointed in the NCAA’s decision, we will work to ensure that North Carolina stays on the list of ‘no-fly’ states mandated by California’s state-funded travel ban, AB 1887, and will continue to fight discriminatory laws in North Carolina and across the country.”
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Equality California is the nation’s largest statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization dedicated to creating a fair and just society. Our mission is to achieve and maintain full and lasting equality, acceptance, and social justice for all people in our diverse LGBT communities, inside and outside of California. Our mission includes advancing the health and well-being of LGBT Californians through direct healthcare service advocacy and education. Through electoral, advocacy, education and mobilization programs, we strive to create a broad and diverse alliance of LGBT people, educators, government officials, communities of color and faith, labor, business, and social justice communities to achieve our goals. www.eqca.org
