California includes 4 more states on travel ban

Attorney general levels accusations of LGBT bias

Decrying a “scourge of discrimination” against LGBT individuals in four states, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra on Thursday doubled the number of states subject to California’s state-sponsored travel ban.

Speaking in San Francisco, Becerra increased the number of states that California state employees cannot travel to on official government business from four to eight.

The four additions — Alabama, Kentucky, South Dakota and Texas — each passed state legislation that took effect starting in March that Becerra alleged discriminates against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their families.

“The state of California is not going to participate in discriminatory conduct by other states,” Becerra said.

The states join Kansas, Mississippi, North Carolina and Tennessee on California’s list of banned states. The first four were put in place by then-Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Thursday marked Becerra’s first action on the matter since he took office, and he blamed the delayed rollout on the complications of analyzing four separate pieces of state legislation.

Under a California law that took effect in January, there are a number of exemptions to the ban on travel. The restrictions do apply to the University of California and other state schools.

But the attorney general’s office would not say whether the rules would prevent an athletic team — the California Golden Bears, for example — from playing an away game at one of the affected states. A representative said the office was reviewing the matter.

Asked about the consequences for California in refusing to do business with those states — especially Texas, which boasts the second-largest economy in the United States behind only California — Becerra paused.

“Texas is a big state,” he said, but “the consequences are real” for LGBT people in Texas and elsewhere.

He said he would not rule out adding more states.

California’s top law enforcement official’s edict comes just before San Francisco Pride Weekend, which is expected to bring more than 1 million people to the city in one of the world’s largest, most colorful celebrations of gay pride.

On the possibility of additional sanctions levied against states that do not change their policies to California’s liking, Becerra said Gov. Jerry Brown and the Legislature would have to consider the matter.

Becerra said that three of the states added to the list Thursday, Alabama, South Dakota and Texas, have passed legislation that could prevent LGBT individuals from serving as foster parents or adopting children.

The most recent such legislation was signed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott June 15. The law allows child welfare providers — including faith-based adoption agencies — to deny adoptions to would-be parents based on “sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Like the other laws derided by Becerra, the Texas legislation argues that the constitutional right to religious freedom allows for exemptions to adoptions for religious people who do not support or believe in same-sex marriage.

Speaking with Becerra, Ashley Morris, the ACLU of Northern California’s organizing director, acknowledged the right to religious freedom as an important constitutional protection.

But Morris argued that the laws passed by the eight states — which range from the East Coast to near the Canadian border — are discriminatory in nature; laws that harm LGBT people more than they protect religious believers.

“We believe that all human beings are equal and should be treated as such,” Morris said.