NC travel bans to continue in Washington state, Chicago – despite HB2 compromise

Chicago and Washington state are the latest to join a chorus of municipalities and states that won’t be lifting bans on non-essential employee travel to North Carolina after a bill was passed to repeal and replace House Bill 2.

Chicago’s mayor, Rahm Emanuel, on Thursday reaffirmed Chicago’s commitment to ban travel, which was first put in place after North Carolina enacted HB2 last year.

And Washington Gov. Jay Inslee reinstated his travel ban after it had automatically expired when HB2 was replaced.

Last month, North Carolina’s Republican leadership and Gov. Roy Cooper compromised on a repeal and replacement of HB2, which was widely seen as anti-LGBTQ.

But the new measure still restricts anti-discrimination ordinances in cities and counties and has been condemned by some advocacy groups that said it did not go far enough to protect the rights of LGBTQ people. Inslee called it a “half-measure.”

“H.B. 142, like H.B. 2, contains similar troubling, discriminatory provisions, and Washingtonians traveling to North Carolina on work-related matters may still experience discrimination,” Inslee wrote in a memo Thursday. “The continued allowance of discrimination is inherent in the spirit of H.B. 142.”

Emmanuel agreed.

“As a welcoming city for all, we are clear on our values of tolerance and inclusion, and we won’t stand by idly when discriminatory policies threaten the rights of any single group or community,” Emanuel said in a statement. “Until North Carolina acknowledges the rights of the LGBTQ community and treats all individuals fairly, the City of Chicago will be taking our business elsewhere, and we encourage others to do the same.”

The Windy City leader is the latest to renounce the new compromise.

Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton told LGBTQ news outlet the Washington Blade that his state would not lift the ban on travel. Mayors of cities including New York City, Washington, San Francisco, Seattle and Salt Lake City all vowed to continue banning non-essential travel to North Carolina.

Seattle Mayor Ed Murray took to Twitter to show his support for a full repeal of HB2.

“@NCAA can end its N. Carolina boycott but we remain unbowed until they fully #RepealHB2 & end discrimination,” he said.

This story was originally published April 13, 2017 at 5:08 PM with the headline "NC travel bans to continue in Washington state, Chicago – despite HB2 compromise."