Good job, NBA. I didn’t think you’d have the guts to actually do it.
I saw this earlier and couldn’t believe it. Bravo to them. I’m glad the sports world is finally starting to send a message that homophobia and transphobia will not be tolerated.
I’m impressed.
They announced it months ago but it is now official. I’m glad too, but I wish the WNBA wasn’t punishing it’s teams for a different hot button political issue.
I feel sorry for Michael Jordan and the Hornets. SCOTUS will sort it out eventually.
The NBA announced months ago that they were considering and reviewing the matter. It seems likely that, behind the scenes, they were looking for alternative sites that (a) are available, and (b) are in places where the laws were less undesirable in this respect, but did not want to make an announcement before being confident about being able to get such an alternative site.
It will be interesting to see where they go instead.
http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-pulls-2017-all-star-game-from-charlotte-focuses-on-new-orleans-190148437.html claims that New Orleans is being focused on. http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/17120170/nba-moving-all-star-game-charlotte-north-carolina-bill says that Chicago and New York may also be possibilities.
I think what I appreciated about their statement is that they will be willing to consider NC again in 2019 if the environment (law) changes to be more inclusive. Let the money speak.
There is an old expression, besides follow the money, that in less crude terms says “money talks and garbage walks”, which I think is appropriate in this case. One of the things that has driven society forward in many cases has been that corporate America has realized that bigotry and discrimination hurt the workplace, that if they want to attract top people they cannot be in a climate where anyone feels threatened or discriminated against. I can tell you from direct experience that some places that have tried to establish themselves as ‘technology allies’ have failed to really gain traction because of perceptions that the area and state they exist in has a reputation for being narrow minded and bigoted, that trying to appeal to certain kinds of social conservatives especially turns off a lot of bright, talented people who don’t want to be around that kind of thing., especially younger people. It is one of the reasons that cities that are known for tech innovation and so forth are attractive places to work, despite the fact that operating in city areas is expensive, because they generally are a lot more live and let live than a lot of places.
Wow, kudos to them!
Good for the PGA, sports hasn’t necessarily been cutting edge, but I am glad that they are willing to take a stand when these kind of things happen. If you think about it, it is bad business for them when any kind of discrimination is allowed, if fans don’t feel comfortable going to a sports venue, it is a ticket not sold, a hot dog or beer or soda not sold and so forth…I think too the teams realize that those promoting such laws don’t represent that much of their business, either.
Of course North Carolina’s governor has hit back and criticized the NBA. I won’t link to his comments; if people want to read them they can find them.
To be fair, he’s in a tough spot. If he stands fast on the law, he’s costing his state money, prestige and reputation. If he bends, he’ll be savaged by his back-to-the-50s voters. Spare a thought for those who are on the wrong side of history. It’s not easy to be anti-LGBT these days.
@lasma:
yep, it has finallly started becoming almost as socially unacceptable to be anti LGBT as it would be to be openly racist. One of the reasons for many of these “religious liberty” laws is to try and carve out pockets where it is acceptable to discriminate against others or be bigoted as long as the claim is it is based on religious belief, because those holding these kind of beliefs know they have lost the broader battle in society.
But is that because being openly racist has become more socially acceptable in the last year, rather than it becoming more socially unacceptable to being anti-LGBT?
In some parts of this country, and in some circles, it’s not the least bit socially unacceptable to be anti LGBT. Let’s not be pollyannas here.
It’s both.
Nothing is ever universal, and there are still places where it is okay to be openly racist or homophobic, be in the right bar (or wrong one), be in some organization like the Knights of Columbus, and you will hear plenty of language that would make Archie Bunker blush. That said, it is still a different world than when I was growing up in suburban NJ and use of the N word to describe blacks, and descriptions and attitudes towards gays and lesbians was vile with language to match, and it has changed a lot. More importantly, especially among the young people, those under 30, it is a very different world and attitudes show that. Does that mean people are totally non racist or can’t be homophobic or transphobic? Yes, of course, but it is a big improvement from when I was a kid, when the kids I grew up with were often just as racist or homophobic of their parents, things have improved, and yes big business has helped with that.
Being Polyanna would be saying everything is perfect, it is far from it, if you read or heard statements from certain politicians and so forth you would think we were in the 1920’s or something, and there still is a ways to go, but all I can say is it has improved, and the people who passed the NC law are not only in the minority, but more and more, unlike the past, people are not shrugging their shoulders and saying “that is terrible”, groups are taking action. Back in the good old days some pine for when lynchings would occur, people would be horrified, but in the end would shrug their shoulders and say “what can I do”, with things like the North Carolina law or some of the horrible laws that have been passed, both governments and private industry and associations have stepped up, as have people, and put teeth into it, rather than saying “well, I am horrified by that, but that is their business” - translation: I don’t like it, but that is up to (in this case LGBT people versus the NC idiots) them to figure out, it isn’t my business.
No person is totally perfect, no place is, but what you are seeing is a reaction of those who know they have lost, rather than suddenly the whole country becoming more racist or anti LGBT.
Bingo. It’s sad that they can do so much damage, though, as they are being pushed off the stage. And not just to the individuals who are harmed, but to our body politic. The level of really hate-filled discourse they generate is just depressing.