This Is The Real Cost Of The Infamous ‘Bathroom Bill’

By
Robert L. Franklin
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In March, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) became the face of the anti-LGBT crowd after he signed into law HB 2, the notorious “bathroom bill” that not only forced transgender persons to use bathrooms that correspond to their biological sex, but also made cities in the state impotent in terms of passing their own protections.

Following the decision, over 100 institutions, including Barnes & Noble, Apple, Facebook, Citibank, and Starbucks, came together to voice their opposition and disgust to McCrory’s decision to pass the law.

Now, Gov. McCrory has come face-to-face with one of the most powerful men in North American professional sports. National Basketball Association (NBA) Commissioner Adam Silver has also been following the events in North Carolina carefully and has been weighing what the NBA can do to force Gov. McCrory’s hand. Commissioner Silver has apparently figured it out.

While speaking at an Associated Press Editor’s event, Commissioner Silver called North Carolina’s anti-LGBT law “problematic” and told those in attendance:

“We’ve been, I think, crystal clear a change in the law is necessary for us to play in the kind of environment that we think is appropriate for a celebratory NBA event.”

bathroom bill nc nba
Image by Keith Allison, available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic license.

Commissioner Silver is referring to the 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend, which is scheduled to be held in Charlotte, N.C. during the weekend of February 17-19, 2017. Wherever the NBA All-Star Weekend is held sees significant positive economic impact. The 2017 event is estimated to bring in nearly $100 million for the Charlotte, N.C. community, according to Fred Whitfield, chief operating officer for the NBA’s Charlotte Hornets.

But Commissioner Silver has other plans. If the “bathroom bill” is not overturned, Charlotte will lose the 2017 NBA All-Star Weekend. The City of Charlotte will lose $100 million. The basketball culture in North Carolina will suffer as a result of bigotry within their state legislature.

Needless to say, the loss of NBA All-Star Weekend would be a significant economic blow for the city of Charlotte, as well as for the state of North Carolina. Commissioner Silver’s decision is also significant because it involves a state where basketball is beyond merely sports and entertainment.

In North Carolina, basketball is a way of life.

Robert L. Franklin
Robert could go on about how he was raised by honey badgers in the Texas Hill Country, or how he was elected to the Texas state legislature as a 19-year-old wunderkind, or how he won 219 consecutive games of Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots against Hugh Grant, but those would be lies. However, Robert does hail from Lewisville, Texas, having been transplanted from Fort Worth at a young age. Robert is a college student and focuses his studies on philosophical dilemmas involving morality, which he feels makes him very qualified to write about politicians. Reading the Bible turned Robert into an atheist, a combative disposition toward greed turned him into a humanist, and the fact he has not lost a game of Madden football in over a decade means you can call him "Zeus." If you would like to be his friend, you can send him a Facebook request or follow his ramblings on Twitter. For additional content that may not make it to Liberal America, Robert's internet tavern, The Zephyr Lounge, is always open

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