That includes the conference championship game in football, which had been scheduled for December 3 in Charlotte. Now, to protect championships participants and fans from discrimination because they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender, we find it necessary to find other locations for our events.
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A statement from the ACC Council of Presidents said the championships will remain on campuses because the universities are committed “to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion, and non-discrimination”. Moore went to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an ACC member.
While the ACC’s football championship – set to be moved from Charlotte – is the most high-profile event that will now need a new home, the ACC will also be relocating championships for women’s soccer, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s golf, men’s golf, and baseball. Otherwise, Republican legislative leaders and Gov. Seen as anti-transgender, it requires citizens to use the restroom of their biological sex.
Equality NC and the Human Rights Campaign previously endorsed McCrory’s rival, Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. Proponents of HB2 say it protects bathroom privacy.
Entertainers like Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Ringo Starr have canceled plans to play in North Carolina.
The NBA moved its 2017 All-Star Game to New Orleans instead of hosting it in Charlotte as originally scheduled because of the law. The NCAA pulled seven championships out of North Carolina on Monday and the ACC pulled its neutral site championships out of the state on Wednesday.
The ACC is headquartered in Greensboro. Before the conference reached its decision, the conversation among its presidents had been “constructive, wide-ranging and vigorous”, Clemson president James P. Clements, the chair of the ACC Council of Presidents, said in a statement.
After similar decisions by the National Basketball Association and NCAA, the collegiate Atlantic Coast Conference yanked its planned championship games for the upcoming season from North Carolina, citing concerns over the Tar Heel State’s controversial House Bill 2, often called the bathroom bill. The result of that vote among the league’s 15 school presidents was not known, but it required a simple majority.
“ACC Commissioner John Swofford called the decision “the right one” but added “… we recognize there will be individuals and communities that are supportive of our values as well as our championship sites that will be negatively affected. “The event has consistently generated significant economic impact for the city that greatly contributes to our quality of life in Charlotte and in North Carolina and helps sustain thousands of jobs”. That would make the ACC’s coveted Saturday night kickoff for the title game a little more hard to pull off, and moving the game up to a time slot that challenges the SEC title game seems less than ideal.
Sedgefield Country Club, pictured during the 2014 Wyndham Championship, will not host the 2017 ACC Women’s Golf Championship.
Those two events would have generated almost $500,000 in revenue for Cary, according to the Greater Raleigh Sports Alliance.
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When the NCAA announced its antidiscrimination policy last spring, it said it was following the actions of legislatures in several states but did not identify them. When asked on Tuesday if he hoped the ACC would follow the NCAA’s lead, he told Bloomberg Markets that he “hoped that they would”. He said the organizations were unfairly punishing the hospitality workers, rental auto companies, concession workers and others who make a living from sports events.
