California has banned state-funded
travel to five additional states that passed anti-LGBT laws that are
“directly targeting transgender youth.”
Attorney General Rob Bonta announced
the addition of Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota, and West
Virginia to the state's official travel list.
In 2016, California approved a law that
prohibits state-funded travel to states with anti-LGBT laws.
“California must take action to avoid
supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay,
bisexual, and transgender people,” Bonta said at a press conference
in San Francisco.
Also on the list are Alabama, Idaho,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South
Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas.
Bonta said that laws that prohibit
transgender youth from participating in team sports or from using the
bathrooms of their choice are “not consistent with our values.”
After Texas was added to California's
travel list in 2017, the state asked the Supreme Court to block
California's law but the high court in April, 2021 refused to hear
the case.