California Bans State-Funded Travel To 5 States, Citing Anti-LGBTQ Laws

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has issued a ban on state-funded travel to five states — Arkansas, Montana, Florida, North Dakota and West Virginia — for their alleged discrimination against the LGBTQ community.

No-Fly Zones: According to a New York Post report, Bonta faulted Arkansas, Florida, Montana and West Virginia for recently enacting laws that prevent transgender females from participating in girls’ school sports, while North Dakota was blackballed for a new state law that allows some publicly-funded student organizations to keep their state aid while prohibiting membership by LGBTQ students.

Bonta also held up two new Arkansas laws to justify his travel ban: one allows medical providers “conscientious objection” as a reason for refusing to treat LGBTQ patients and another that prohibits gender-confirming treatments or surgery for transgender youths.

The new state travel bans Florida and Montana go into effect on July 1, while West Virginia’s ban begins July 8, Arkansas on July 29 and North Dakota on Aug. 1.

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Off Limit Travel: California started issuing bans on state-funded travel to states in 2016. In addition to the aforementioned quintet, the state’s travel ban list also includes Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.

“When states discriminate against LGBTQ+ Americans, California law requires our office to take action,” Bonta said in a press statement.

However, the travel ban has loopholes to allow trips that are required to enforce state law and to honor contracts signed before the states were added to the list.

Photo: David Mark / Pixabay.