California announced Monday that the ban on state-funded travel will include five new states due to an “unprecedented wave of bigotry & discrimination” following recent transgender athlete legislation.
Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia are the newest additions to the list, which now tallies a whopping 17 states that California banned for state-sponsored travel.
These new bans — beginning July 1 — come after the now-banned states took legislative actions to protect women’s sports by requiring students to compete along with their biological gender.
The state’s attorney general Rob Bonta slammed these states’ actions as “dangerous” for the LGBTQ community.
“The states are a part of a recent, dangerous wave of discriminatory new bills signed into law in states across the country that directly work to ban transgender youth from playing sports, block access to life-saving care, or otherwise limit the rights of members of the LGBTQ community,” Bonta said in a statement, according to Fox News.
Bonta tweeted about his state's move as well:
#BREAKING: As a result of recently enacted anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, California will — pursuant to state law — restrict state-funded travel to:
— Rob Bonta (@AGRobBonta) June 28, 2021
• Arkansas
• Florida
• Montana
• North Dakota
• West Virginia#AB1887 is about aligning our dollars with our values. pic.twitter.com/w94GB20nI6
The restriction comes in accordance to Assembly Bill 1887, which bars the state from “financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.”
Essentially, the progressive state will discriminate against states that value the integrity of women’s sporting competitions and biological reality — in the name of anti-discrimination.
In other words, for tolerance’s sake, as Bonta put it — “CA will not tolerate it.”
For video of Bonta's announcement on the legislation, watch below: