OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington Gov. Jay Inslee just reinstated a ban on all taxpayer-funded travel to North Carolina. The announcement comes after North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper, Senate President Phil Berger, and House Speaker Tim Moore passed a law — HB 142 — doubling down on many of the worst aspects of the state’s notorious anti-LGBTQ HB2 law.
Washington joins the ever-growing chorus of cities and states not fooled by North Carolina’s discriminatory “bait and switch” on HB2, including California; Minnesot
HB 142 is not an HB2 repeal, and replaces one discriminatory, anti-transgender bathroom bill with another. It bans local LGBTQ non-discrimination protections statewide through 2020, and it substitutes the previous anti-transgender bathroom provisions with a new provision that forbids state agencies, public universities, primary and secondary schools, and cities from adopting policies ensuring transgender people have access to restrooms consistent with their gender identity.
