Group of US Senators Asks NBA Commissioner to Move All Star Game Out of North Carolina

Bipartisan Group Says ‘We Cannot Condone Nor Stand Idly by as North Carolina Moves to Legalize and Institutionalize Discrimination’

Six U.S. Senators – five Democrats and one Republican – Tuesday afternoon signed a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver urging the 2017 All Star Game be moved out of North Carolina. 

“Discrimination has no place in modern America,” the Senators say, calling actions of lawmakers who passed the Tar Heel State’s anti-LGBT law HB2 “profoundly disappointing.”

The Senators, Jeff Merkley (D-OR), , Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Cory Booker, (D-NJ), Mark Kirk (R-IL), Pat Leahy (D-VT), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), and Patty Murray (D-WA) posted the open letter to Medium, saying, “we urge you to take a stand against this latest form of discrimination and move the 2017 NBA All-Star Game away from Charlotte, N.C.”

“Millions of Americans and millions more people around the world look up to the NBA,” the lawmakers note. “The NBA boasts one of the most multicultural and multiethnic groups of players of any sports league in the world with more than 100 international players on its rosters. The NBA also made history just two years ago this month when Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete to play in a major American professional sports league.”

They conclude, “we cannot condone nor stand idly by as North Carolina moves to legalize and institutionalize discrimination against the LGBT community. Nor should the NBA allow its premier annual event to be hosted in such a state. Doing so, we believe, would be inconsistent with the NBA’s history and values. Therefore, we echo the words of NBA Hall of Famer Charles Barkley and call on the NBA to move the All-Star game from Charlotte.”

RELATED: North Carolina Governor Issues Executive Order in Response to Anti-LGBT Law Backlash

The letter comes just days after a fake news website hoodwinked several news outlets and many people on social media over the weekend when it falsely claimed Commissioner Silver had given North Carolina 30 days to repeal the discriminatory HB2 law or “they can expect the 2017 All-Star game to be held elsewhere.” NCRM was the first to report the “news” was fake.

Earlier today North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory signed an executive order he tried to position as moderating HB2. While it does extend sexual orientation and gender identity protections to state employees, it does not repeal the anti-LGBT and unconstitutional law, nor does it roll back its most onerous acts.

 

EARLIER:

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WATCH: These 8 North Carolina Trans Citizens Share Their Feelings On HB2 And It May Break Your Heart

 

Image by USCapitol via Flickr