S.F. Mayor Bars City Workers From Traveling To North Carolina In Protest Of Anti-LGBT Law
SAN FRANCISCO (CBSLA.com/AP) — San Francisco's mayor is banning city workers from traveling to North Carolina unless it is necessary in protest against the state's new law that blocks LBGT rights.
Mayor Ed Lee wrote in a statement Friday that residents in the city with a large gay and lesbian population "will not subsidize legally sanctioned discrimination." He said the new law turns back the clock on civil rights protections.
Gov. Pat McCrory Wednesday signed a sweeping law that denies anti-discrimination protections for lesbians, gays and transgender people.
The law blocks cities and counties from passing anti-discrimination rules and imposes a statewide standard that leaves out protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The legislation voided a Charlotte ordinance that would have allowed transgender people to legally use restrooms aligned with their gender identity.
Technology giants Apple, Google and Facebook are among a dozen big companies or their top executives objecting to the controversial legislation. Facebook, Google and Apple have massive data-processing complexes in western North Carolina.
But none of the high-profile companies have threatened to immediately withdraw business from the Tar Heel state.
North Carolina is the first state to require public school and university students to use only those bathrooms that match their birth certificates, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.
Corporations announcing their displeasure "are shamefully bullying" state officials while many small business owners who live in North Carolina support the new legislation, North Carolina Values Coalition Executive Director Tami Fitzgerald said.
"North Carolinians should be aware of this so they have the opportunities to be consumers of companies that are congruent with their values," Fitzgerald wrote in a statement.
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