California bans state-sponsored travel to Ohio over anti-LGBTQ law
Starting this month, California will not allow any trip from the Golden State to the state of Ohio to be paid entirely by state funds. It’s a ban as part of a state law that prevents state employees from organizing trips to states that discriminate against LGBTQ people, reports LGBTQ Nation.
The law, Assembly Bill 1187, was enacted by the California Legislature in 2016 and signed under then-Gov. Jerry Brown (D) in response to North Carolina’s HB2 “bathroom bill” law that sought to ban people from using the bathroom based on their gender identity.
Ohio becomes the 12th state affected by the law since it was enacted. Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas have all been banned by order of the California Attorney General since 2016.
The law in question that Ohio passed is a provision in the state’s budget, passed as House Bill 110. A part of the law grants healthcare providers in the state the right to refuse performing or insuring medical care if they have a “conscience-based objection.” That could allow healthcare workers or health insurers to deny care to people based on their gender and sexuality.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta stated, “Blocking access to life-saving care is wrong. Period.”
