California has banned state-sponsored travel to 5 more states over bigoted transgender laws. This was stated by Rob Bonta, the Attorney General on Monday. He spoke about aligning dollars with values. The California travel ban is against West Virginia, North Dakota, Montana, Florida, and Arkansas. The Attorney General said that the perilous new laws would directly affect the LGBQT+ community and restrict them from sports, hamper their access to life care, and in general severely restrict their rights.
Rob Bonta said that it was unfortunate that a group of politicians has chosen to attack certain communities rather than solve more pressing issues like gun control, the pandemic, and the tottering economy.
California Travel Ban To Affect 17 States
The addition of 5 more states means that there are travel restrictions in place against 17 states. They are subject to AB 1887 prohibition on travel. The California travel ban does not impinge on personal travel.
Bonta said that the barred states are part of an effort to restrict the personal rights of Americans who are part of the LGBQT+ community.
There are exceptions to the ban. Auditing, revenue collection, licensure, and grant funding will be outside the purview of the state ban.
The Attorney General said that in the end, it is for the concerned agencies to determine the steps needed to conform to AB 1887.
In a retaliatory move, Kevin Stitt, the Republican Governor of Oklahoma had prohibited employees from any non-essential visit to California following the inclusion of the state in the restricted list. He had termed the California travel ban an attempt to politically intimidate and threaten Oklahomans’ ‘values’. LGBQT+ supporters celebrated the move. Advocacy groups have pointed out that 23 states have imposed on the rights of transgenders in 2021 alone.
Bonta said that American is in the middle of an unparalleled wave of discrimination and bigotry and said that California would oppose it.