Republican politicians in North Carolina are lashing out at the NCAA after the sanctioning body announced it was relocating seven championship sporting events because of a state law limiting civil rights protections for LGBT people.
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“This decision is consistent with the NCAA’s long-standing core values of inclusion, student-athlete well-being and creating a culture of fairness”, said Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, the chair of the board of governors.
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. The decision to move seven college championship sporting events out of North Carolina due to a state law deemed discriminatory to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people was a “proverbial no-brainer”, the president of the governing body for USA college athletics said on Tuesday. The other six are: 2016 Division I Women’s Soccer Championship, College Cup; 2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships; 2017 Division I Women’s Golf Championships, regional; 2017 Division III Men’s and Women’s Tennis Championships; 2017 Division I Women’s Lacrosse Championship; and 2017 Division II Baseball Championship.
The NCAA finally acted yesterday after months of suggesting that they would be moving championship events out of the state of North Carolina after a lack of revision to the HB2 law. The law requires transgender people to use public restrooms that corresponded with the sex on their birth certificate and not their gender identity, which is now being challenged by the Justice Department and American Civil Liberties Union. It also makes unlawful the use by a person of a restroom different from the gender on his or her birth certificate. The NCAA announced that is is pulling seven collegiate athletic postseason events from North Carolina.
Supporters of HB2 say it provides commonsense protections of women and children in bathrooms, locker rooms and shower facilities.
The NBA move was considered big, but the NCAA jumping aboard the boycott train could create massive waves in the state.
Losing the NCAA men’s basketball tournament games, which Greensboro was supposed to host in 2017, will particularly sting for many residents of North Carolina.
The passion in the state about college basketball may inspire some North Carolina voters who weren’t interested in the election season to reconsider.
In the hours following the NCAA’s decision, McCrory did not issue a public statement. At the time, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski called the North Carolina law “embarrassing”.
“I wish the NCAA was this concerned about the women who were raped at Baylor”, spokeswoman Kami Mueller said Monday night.
The NCAA noted the decision was consistent with steps it had taken in the past “to ensure its championship environment is consistent with its values”, pointing to bans regarding states that display the Confederate flag and the use of “hostile and abusive Native American imagery”. Headquartered in Greensboro and with four founding members residing in the state, the conference has been intertwined with North Carolina for most of its history.
The Atlantic Coast Conference, which includes four North Carolina schools, is scheduled to hold its championship football game in Charlotte on December 3.
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HB2 and its affiliated laws will likely become a pretty hot button issue at state elections this November. ACC Commissioner John Swofford hinted at the same hours later (which means that the ACC Football Championship in Charlotte also is in jeopardy).
