The state of California has banned state-funded travel to Indiana after the Hoosier State implemented a law that bars transgender athletes from competing against natural-born girls.
California authorities called Indiana’s law a “coordinated” attack on “our LGBTQ+ community.”
“Make no mistake: There is a coordinated, ongoing attack on transgender rights happening right now all across the country,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta exclaimed, according to ABC affiliate WTHR. “Blanket legislation targeting transgender children is a ‘solution’ in search of a problem. It is detached from reality and directly undermines the well-being of our LGBTQ+ community.”
The law went into effect on July 1 after the Indiana state legislature voted to override Republican Gov. Eric Holcomb’s veto of the bill.
Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita slapped back at California over the ban and tweeted that he would choose to protect girls over having visitors from California any day.
Indiana was only one of four new states added to California’s travel ban. The other three include Utah, Louisiana, and Arizona, each of which implemented new laws banning trans athletes from competing as women.
These four states are but a few of the states to which California has barred state-funded travel. In fact, the state has now moved to cut off travel to 22 states, nearly half of our 50 states.
The list of banned states now includes Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia.
While the state is officially banning state-funded travel to so many other states, California Gov. Gavin Newsom seems to feel he is exempt from observing his own legislature’s banned list. Newsom took heat this week for a vacation in Montana, one of the states on the banned list.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Facebook at: facebook.com/Warner.Todd.Huston, or Truth Social @WarnerToddHuston