With North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory standing firm by his state’s recently enacted Bathroom Law, which requires that people use the public restroom that corresponds to their biological gender, the NBA decided to pull the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte, it announced Thursday.
“While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2,” the NBA said in a statement. “… We look forward to re-starting plans for our All-Star festivities in Charlotte for 2019 provided there is an appropriate resolution to this matter.”
Back in April, NBA commissioner Adam Silver threatened to move the game if the law was not changed. With the clock running down on planning for the big event and no signs that change was coming, Silver followed through on the threat, costing the state an estimated $100 million.
McCrory, as you can guess, was livid.
“The sports and entertainment elite, Attorney General Roy Cooper and the liberal media have for months misrepresented our laws and maligned the people of North Carolina simply because most people believe boys and girls should be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the opposite sex present," McCrory said in a statement.
"Twenty-one other states have joined North Carolina to challenge the federal overreach by the Obama administration mandating their bathroom policies in all businesses and schools instead of allowing accommodations for unique circumstances. Left-wing special interest groups have no moral authority to try and intimidate the large majority of American parents who agree in common-sense bathroom and shower privacy for our children. American families should be on notice that the selective corporate elite are imposing their political will on communities in which they do business, thus bypassing the democratic and legal process.”