However, we regret today’s decision will negatively affect many North Carolinians, especially in the affected host communities.
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At issue in North Carolina is the law known as HB2, which requires transgender people to use restrooms in schools and state government buildings that correspond to the gender on their birth certificate.
The chancellors of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and N.C. State University said they appreciated the council reaffirming the league’s “strong commitment to diversity and inclusion”.
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.
Besides the men’s basketball games scheduled in Greensboro for March 17 and 19, events involving Division I women’s soccer, Division I women’s golf, Division I women’s lacrosse, Division III men’s and women’s soccer, Division III men’s and women’s tennis, and Division II baseball will be moved from North Carolina to other states.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has announced it will remove all neutral site conference championship games effective immediately.
Following 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 bathroom bill.
“That’s why we need to evaluate everything and see what options are possibly out there for us to suggest to the ACC, ” James said, “and from there it would really be up to them to determine what’s best for the league”.
“The issue of redefining gender and basic norms of privacy will be resolved in the near future in the United States court system for not only North Carolina, but the entire nation”.
HB2 was signed into law earlier this year by Republican Gov.
The commissioner added that he hopes “there will be opportunities beyond 2016-2017 for North Carolina neutral sites to be awarded championships”.
The chairman of the organization’s board of governors, Georgia Tech President G.P. “Bud” Peterson, said, “This decision is consistent with the NCAA’s longstanding core values of inclusion, student-athlete well-being and creating a culture of fairness”. Now North Carolina is trying to hold firm on the law despite losing millions of dollars in revenue from sporting events and even companies abandoning North Carolina. “This is not just about sports – this is about communities in North Carolina suffering real economic blows”.
Championships held on campus sites will remain in place, because “every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to” the conference’s values, the statement said.
“I think it is time we give serious consideration to modifying, or possibly repealing”, the law, Gunn said in a statement.
That means no more ACC football championship game in Charlotte and that includes this season.
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The decision has left the ACC scrambling.
