ACLU Statement on NCAA Decision to Reconsider North Carolina Sites

RALEIGH, N.C. — The NCAA Board of Governors announced today that it will again consider bids to host championship events in North Carolina despite the fact that North Carolina has replaced HB2 with a new law that continues to bar protections for LGBT people and ensures that transgender people do not have clear access to restrooms, which limits their ability to go to school, work, and attend sporting events and other public activities.

“North Carolina’s new law does nothing to guarantee that LGBT people will be protected from discrimination, and as the NCAA’s own statement acknowledges, the rights of trans student-athletes, coaches, and fans in particular remain in legal limbo,” said James Esseks, director of the ACLU’s LGBT and HIV Project. “This is not an environment that protects people from discrimination.”

HB 142, signed by Gov. Roy Cooper last week, prevents public schools and local governments from adopting good policies guaranteeing that transgender people can access facilities matching their gender. HB 142 also says that local governments cannot pass ordinances protecting LGBT people — or anyone else — from discrimination in employment or public places until 2020.

Anti-LGBT legislators have already signaled their intent to build off the passage of HB 142 to pass more explicit laws targeting transgender people for using restrooms consistent with their gender identity.

“This new law is not a repeal of HB2. It doubles down on the dangerous lie that transgender people are a threat to public safety, and it doesn’t leave North Carolina the way it was before HB2,” said Sarah Gillooly, policy director for the ACLU of North Carolina. “The NCAA must stand by its word and demand documentation of basic nondiscrimination policies before committing to any North Carolina sites.”