 Amanda Dybal Staff Writer Should bathroom laws affect the people of North Carolina who just want to catch a first round Division one men’s basketball game? NCAA removed seven championship events from North Carolina because of LGBT bathroom laws. The laws in the NC Bathroom Bill state that you may only legally enter the bathroom of your biological gender. CNN states, “The NCAA cited the bathroom law and other factors in its decision to keep championships and their corresponding prestige and dollars away from the state. The other factors included: • North Carolina laws invalidate any local law that treats sexual orientation as a protected class or has a purpose to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender individuals.
• North Carolina has the only statewide law that makes it unlawful to use a restroom different from the gender on one's birth certificate, regardless of gender identity. • North Carolina law provides legal protections for government officials to refuse services to the LGBT community. • Five states plus numerous cities prohibit travel to North Carolina for public employees and representatives of public institutions, which could include student-athletes and campus athletics staff. These states are New York, Minnesota, Washington, Vermont and Connecticut.” North Carolina sports fans are furious. Bathroom laws have affected the location of seven NCAA games, all of which are listed below:
North Carolina is also worried about all the money that the state will lose since the championships were moved. Scott Dupree, Executive Director of the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance, explains, “Those events were expected to generate approximately 5,300 hotel room nights and more than $2 million in direct visitor spending. College sports is one of our region’s most important economic drivers, if not the most important, so this is a significant hit. It’s a tremendous loss, and not just economically.” He explains that North Carolina is losing a huge chunk of its state funding from the relocation; this loss should be brought to the attention of state politicians. Meanwhile, a few other events are being canceled for the same reasons. Entertainers Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen canceled their shows in North Carolina. Also, the NBA relocated the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte due to the bathroom laws. The laws and factors North Carolina has set in place have affected many lives of sports fans. The NCAA does not agree with the atmosphere these laws are providing. There are many different opinions on the laws and how they are affecting the entertainment in North Carolina. Should these laws disturb the traditions of the few sports events and other entertaining shows that are held in North Carolina? Sources: http://www.usnews.com/news/sports/articles/2016-09-12/ncaa-pulls-7-postseason-events-out-of-nc-due-to-lgbt-law http://www.espn.com/college-sports/story/_/id/17533335/ncaa-pulls-7-championship-events-north-carolina http://hotair.com/archives/2016/09/13/ncaa-pulls-seven-events-north-carolina-bathroom-law/ http://edition.cnn.com/2016/09/12/sport/ncaa-pulls-championships-north-carolina-lgbtq/ Comments are closed.
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