NCAA officials in charge of organizing college basketball’s annual men’s and women’s tournament told North Carolina that its cities Greensboro and Charlotte, which are scheduled to host games, must “report how they will provide an environment that is safe, healthy and free of discrimination, plus safeguards the dignity of everyone involved in the event,” according to a statement released to ESPN Thursday.
The move comes after North Carolina legislators enacted an anti-LGBT law that, among other things, overruled city-level anti-discrimination ordinances and bans transgender people from using the bathrooms matching their identity in government buildings and school.
NCAA sources told ESPN that hosting sites for the 2017 and 2018 basketball tournament will have to present a plan to the NCAA outlining discrimination free zones, or lose the hosting privileges.
“The information must be reported to the Board of Governors Ad Hoc Committee to Promote Cultural Diversity and Equity, and full implementation is expected during the current bidding process,” the NCAA statement said. Its Board of Governors also passed an anti-discrimination measure while at the organization’s quarterly meeting in Indianapolis, ESPN noted.
According to Buzzfeed, the reports will have to address not just tournament sites, but other NCAA events like educational programs and leadership conferences.
In addition to the pressure from the sports world, North Carolina is also facing a backlash from entertainers — who have canceled concerts in the state — and from business.
The Human Rights Campaign, a top LGBT rights group, praised the NCAA for the move.
“The NCAA has sent a very clear message that unfair and unjust discrimination against LGBT people will not be tolerated by the association, and we hope lawmakers are listening,” President Chad Griffin said in a blog post. “In order for cities to even qualify to host these major sporting events, they must now have commonsense, LGBT-inclusive non-discrimination protections. We commend the NCAA Board of Governors for taking this critically important stand in favor of fairness and equality.”
So… just Greensboro and Charlotte?
That’s pretty fucking ridiculous IMO.
Geez, teh gays ruin it for everybody!!
The state law would have to change for either of those cities to ban discrimination against transgendered people.
North Carolina can make this a non-issue by repealing the hate law they passed. They said it was about trans people attacking women and girls in bathrooms, which is so rare they are hard pressed to come up with examples of it happening. The bill also scrapped being able to file a discrimination claim (of any type in state courts), local municipalities having their own non-discrimination ordinances, municipalities having higher minimum wages and more.
But they won’t repeal the bill because they think they are in a holy war and this law is going to let them win the war.
“NCAA sources told ESPN that hosting sites for the 2017 and 2018 basketball tournament will have to present a plan to the NCAA outlining discrimination free zones, or lose the hosting privileges.” Fuck that, demand repeal or they’ll lose the privileges. This is some half baked bullshit, akin to praising an alcoholic for throwing out all of his mixers.