If you are a proud North Carolinian like me, this is a VERY sad day, particularly if you enjoy college sports.
The Atlantic Coast Conference has decided to move several championship events, including the ACC college football championship game from Charlotte, earlier today. This comes after the NCAA decided to move other predetermined events from North Carolina, including the first and second rounds of the NCAA tournaments, yesterday.
And that came after the NBA decided to move the NBA All-Star Game from Charlotte earlier this year.
Why have those events been moved, you asked? It’s because of a divisive law called “HB2”, concocted by the state’s general assembly, and signed by governor Pat McCrory.
Before I proceed, let me stop to explain what the “HB2” law is. A lot of people think it’s just a law forcing transgendered citizens to use the bathroom of their birth gender.
While that’s a major part of the law, it’s not the only part that makes this law divisive, and frankly discriminatory.
Here is the copy and pasted except from the “HB2” law:
“(c) The General Assembly declares that the regulation of discriminatory practices in employment is properly an issue of general, statewide concern, such that this Article and other applicable provisions of the General Statutes supersede and preempt any ordinance, regulation, resolution, or policy adopted or imposed by a unit of local government or other political subdivision of the State that regulates or imposes any requirement upon an employer pertaining to the regulation of discriminatory practices in employment, except such regulations applicable to personnel employed by that body that are not otherwise in conflict with State law.”
If you want to read the law in its entirety, click here.
What it’s basically saying is that businesses and the like are protected from being sued from discrimination on ANY level: race, religion, gender, and sexual orientation.
In fact, here is a simple Q&A on the law in case you want to learn more about it.
And as if THAT didn’t piss me off enough, I was listening to one of my favorite sports shows, “The David Glenn Show” based in Raleigh, NC, and learned of another embarrassing nugget about North Carolina after the loss of those sporting events.
The state I grew up in is now on TWO embarrassing lists.
First, North Carolina is one of just two states to lose a high-profile pro sporting events due to government decisions. Arizona lost the Super Bowl in 1993 because it would not observe MLK holiday. Thankfully for that state, politicians corrected that and thus regained the Super Bowl and remains on that rotation.
And last, and perhaps the most embarrassing, North Carolina is one of just two states who are on a NCAA current list that is banned from hosting predetermined championship events. Mississippi is banned because it refuses to remove the confederate flag from its state flag.
So here we are, sharing company with perhaps the most racist, ass-backwards, impoverished state in the country. All because of a stupid, unnecessary divisive law.
So let me accompany David Glenn in congratulating North Carolina, the state I grew up in, in losing those sporting events (and losing billions of $$$). I can’t wait to see the legislators responsible and that stupid-ass governor voted the hell out in November.
Categories: college basketball, college football, college sports
In the grand scheme of things, money decides just about everything so HB2 will get tossed out before too long. I have a strong opinion on this topic BUT 1. It’s NC and I don’t live there so I don’t care 2. My opinion means nothing because of #1. If NC lawmakers are following the will of the people then is there really anything wrong? OR does the will of the majority no long matter? The bottomline the will of the very rich who just lost a lot of NCAA/Broadcasting dollar bills will reign supreme and the majority will see that the will of the people only goes so far.