McCrory hadn’t said anything publicly about the NCAA’s decision, but a spokeswoman with the state Republican party said the move was “so absurd it’s nearly comical”.
Advertisement
“Fairness is about more than the opportunity to participate in college sports, or even compete for championships”, Mark Emmert, the NCAA president, said in a statement detailing the NCAA’s decision to remove events from North Carolina.
In a press release, the Board emphasized that “NCAA championships and events must promote an inclusive atmosphere for all college athletes, coaches, administrators and fans”.
The NCAA also criticized the North Carolina law allowing legal protections for employers refusing services and laws barring local governments from passing their own anti-discrimination protections. It also directs all public schools, government agencies and public college campuses to require that multiple-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities, such as locker rooms, be designated for use only by people based on the “biological sex” stated on their birth certificates.
EqualityNC and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) sent out a joint statement Monday night, saying the NCAA sent “a clear message to North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory and state lawmakers that it will not tolerate hateful laws targeting student athletes, fans, and employees”. Atlantic Coast Conference Commissioner John Swofford – whose league hosts many sporting events in the state, including its football championship game – said Monday that the ACC’s council of presidents were set to discuss the law at a previously scheduled meeting later this week.
2016 Division III Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championships (Greensboro), Dec. 2 and 3.
Two months ago the National Basketball Association moved its 2017 All-Star Game from North Carolina to New Orleans for the same reason. A final decision is not expected until next year, as all potential host cities have been asked to provide information about the presence or lack of any local nondiscrimination laws that might prompt the organization to choose another city.
LGBTQ organizations and advocates have called on businesses to pull out of North Carolina Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Republican Gov. “We’re famous for three things ― beaches, barbecue and basketball ― and now Pat McCrory has stepped all over one of those with the worst LGBT bill in the nation”.
And the North Carolina Republican Party responded with an angry statement, blasting the NCAA’s decision as an “assault to female athletes” and claiming that the NCAA does not want to have separate lockers rooms for men and women. Citing the hostile environment created by the anti-LGBTQ law, and after repeated warnings, the league would move the event if the law remained on the books, the National Basketball Association announced it was moving the game out of Charlotte after state lawmakers failed to repeal the measure.
– and the Division II baseball championship from May 27 to June 3 in Cary. “I genuinely look forward to the NCAA merging all men’s and women’s teams together as singular unisex teams”.
“North Carolina is ground zero for NCAA college basketball”. It was also unclear how the NCAA’s decision affects championship events that have been scheduled beyond this academic year.
Georgia Tech President Bud Peterson, whose school is a member of the ACC, is the newly elected chairman of the NCAA board of governors, which unanimously voted to relocate the association’s events out of North Carolina.
Advertisement
“This is so absurd it’s nearly comical”, Mueller said.
