Malloy Bans State-Funded Travel To North Carolina Over Transgender Bathroom Bill
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork) -- Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy signed an executive order Thursday banning all state-funded travel to North Carolina.
The order comes in response to a bill signed by North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory that invalidates an order in the city of Charlotte allowing transgender people to use restrooms aligned with their gender identity.
The law also requires transgender people to use restrooms corresponding to their biological sex.
"When we see discrimination and injustice, we have to act. This law is not just wrong, it poses a public safety risk to Connecticut residents traveling through North Carolina," Malloy said in a statement.
"...We need to do what we can to stand up and act against laws that encourage – as a matter of public policy – discrimination and endangerment of our citizenry."
Malloy isn't the only local leader to impact such a ban. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo approved a ban on non-essential state travel to North Carolina in response to the bill on March 28.
"As long as there is a law in North Carolina that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT people, I am barring non-essential state travel to that state," Cuomo said in an earlier statement.
in 2015, both Malloy and Cuomo placed a ban on non-essential travel to Indiana after the state passed a then-controversial 'religious freedom' law that critics said could be used to discriminate against members of the LGBT community. Cuomo and Malloy lifted the ban in 2015, after changes to the bill were made.
