Washington state and Chicago have
announced they'll keep in place policies that restrict government
workers from traveling to North Carolina.
The bans were enacted to protest
passage of House Bill 2, which blocked cities from enacting LGBT
protections and prohibited transgender people from using the bathroom
of their choice in many buildings.
Earlier this month, lawmakers repealed
the law and replaced it with House Bill 142.
But Washington Governor Jay Inslee said
in a memo that lawmakers had not gone far enough.
“H.B. 142, like H.B. 2, contains
similar troubling, discriminatory provisions, and Washingtonians
traveling to North Carolina on work-related matters may still
experience discrimination,” Inslee said. “The continued
allowance of discrimination is inherent in the spirit of H.B. 142.”
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel agreed.
“Until North Carolina acknowledges
the rights of the LGBTQ community and treats all individuals fairly,
the City of Chicago will be taking our business elsewhere, and we
encourage others to do the same,” he said in a statement.
The new law leaves bathroom regulation
to the state and enacts a moratorium on local LGBT protections until
December 1, 2020.
Washington state and Chicago join
California, Minnesota, New York City, Washington, San Francisco,
Seattle and Salt Lake City in continuing to ban non-essential travel
to North Carolina over its LGBT policies.