Atlantic Coast Conference officials have followed the NCAA’s lead and are removing all their championships from North Carolina over a state law limiting protections for LGBT people.
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In a statement on Wednesday, the conference – which organizes games for 15 member universities – announced it “will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year” as a result of House Bill 2. A joint statement from the ACC Council of Presidents said all new locations would be announced at later dates.
The championships to be relocated, in order of date, are women’s soccer (Nov. 4-6, from Cary), football (Dec. 3 in Charlotte), men’s and women’s swimming and diving (Feb. 15-18 and February 22-25 in Greensboro), women’s basketball (March 1-5 in Greensboro), men’s and women’s tennis (April 26-30 in Cary), men’s and women’s golf (April 21-23 in New London and Greensboro) and baseball (May 23-28 in Durham).
The NCAA on Monday pulled seven 2016-17 championships from the state, including the Division I men’s basketball tournament from Greensboro, the ACC’s home city since its 1953 inception. The decision is in response to a bill state lawmakers passed in May that bans individuals from using public bathrooms that do not correspond to their biological sex. The ACC had a deal with Charlotte to keep championships there through 2019. The loss of the ACC in North Carolina sends a resounding message about the controversy of the state’s transgender bathroom laws. Such prohibitions can last for quite some time: The NCAA’s ban on SC hosting neutral-site championships for flying the Confederate flag on Statehouse grounds lasted from 2001 until it came down last summer.
The men’s basketball tournament may not be in jeopardy this season, as it is now scheduled to be played in Brooklyn this upcoming basketball season, but the ACC in Greensboro has been a fixture since the 1970s with a season in another location here and there.
The ACC and NCAA made a decision to take away championships because of House Bill 2, which in part stops local governments from passing broad ordinances protecting sexual orientation and gender identity.
Clemson President James P. Clements told the NY Times that the decision to move the ACC championship games was not easy, but it “is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and nondiscrimination at all of our institutions”.
Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, commended the ACC for the decision, which he said amounts to “standing up for LGBTQ equality”.
When North Carolina could have been progressive and governor Pat McCrory could have vetoed House Bill 2, it now stands as a discriminatory piece of legislation that makes North Carolina look intolerant. The conference has yanked this year’s football title game from Charlotte, citing the state’s HB 2 law. “The truth remains that this law was never about and does not promote discrimination”. HB2 was signed into law this year by Gov.
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McCrory, who has vigorously defended the law, said in a statement that the NCAA’s decision disrespects student athletes and “hard-working men and women”. Carol Folt at UNC and Randy Woodson at N.C. State said they’re glad championships scheduled for campus sites will remain in place.
