Basketball-crazed North Carolina has lost its next chance to host NCAA men’s basketball tournament games along with several other championship events due to a state law that some say can lead to discrimination against LGBT people.
And the fallout may not be over.
After the NCAA announced it is pulling seven championship events from North Carolina for this year, Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford ― whose league hosts many sporting events in the state, including its football championship game ― said the ACC’s council of presidents were set to discuss the law at a previously scheduled meeting later this week.
The ACC football championship game, held in Charlotte since 2010, is the last marquee college sporting event left in the state during the 2016-17 season. While Swofford it would be “premature” to make any decisions about holding events in North Carolina for now, he also issued a clear statement against the law.
“On a personal note,” Swofford said, “it’s time for this bill to be repealed as its counter to basic human rights.”
In a news release Monday, the NCAA says the decision by its board of governors came “because of the cumulative actions taken by the state concerning civil rights protections.”
The law ― known as HB2 ― requires transgender people to use restrooms at schools and government buildings corresponding to the sex on their birth certificates. It also excludes gender identity and sexual orientation from local and statewide antidiscrimination protections.
