California has banned state-funded travel to 17 states over LGBTQ laws. Here’s the full list
Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Monday he’s banning taxpayer-funded travel to five more states under a California law that calls on his office to act when another state adopts measures viewed as discriminatory against gay and transgender people.
The new additions are Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia following their passage of new laws that restrict transgender youth from playing sports and block access to life-saving care for members of the LGBTQ+ community.
With this announcement, California now restricts taxpayer-funded travel for public employees and college students to 17 states representing over 30% of the American population.
None of these 17 states on the “no fly” list voted for President Joe Biden in the 2020 election. They’re represented by Republican-led Legislatures that have in some cases adopted laws allowing organizations to deny services to same-sex couples, among other policies.
“The states are a part of a recent dangerous wave of discriminatory new bills signed into law in states all across the country,” Bonta said in a news release.
As of June, more than 250 anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced in state legislatures throughout the U.S., with at least 95 directly targeting transgender Americans, Bonta said.
The Human Rights Center predicts 2021 will break records as the worst year for what it views as anti-LGBTQ legislation, surpassing 2015 when 15 new anti-LGBTQ bills were signed into law.
“I’m really sad that we have to keep doing this,” Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco said. He added the travel restrictions are important to demonstrate that “there will be consequences for targeting our community, particularly our children.”
Here are all of the states on California’s state-funded travel restrictions list, with the dates they were added:
Alabama — announced June 22, 2017
Arkansas — July 29, 2021
Florida — July 1, 2021
Idaho — July 1, 2020
Iowa — October 4, 2019
Kansas — January 1, 2017
Kentucky — announced June 22, 2017
Mississippi — January 1, 2017
Montana — July 1, 2021
North Carolina — Jan. 1, 2017
North Dakota — Aug. 1, 2021
Oklahoma — June 22, 2018
South Carolina — April 15, 2019
South Dakota — announced June 22, 2017
Tennessee — Jan. 1, 2017
Texas — announced June 22, 2017
West Virginia — July 8, 2021
This story was originally published June 28, 2021 at 2:19 PM with the headline "California has banned state-funded travel to 17 states over LGBTQ laws. Here’s the full list."