California state employees will be barred from traveling on business to five states because of those states’ laws that discriminate against the LGBTQ community, California’s attorney general announced Monday.
According to NPR, Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said that there will be limited circumstances that will allow state employees to travel to Florida, Arkansas, Montana, North Dakota and West Virginia, raising to seventeen the number of states impacted by the California ban.
The five states have each passed laws discriminating against transgender people, including barring transgender girls from participating in school sports and barring some medical care for transgender individuals.
“Make no mistake: We’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country — and the State of California is not going to support it,” Bonta said. The rule can can impact travel to conferences and training being held in those states.
California has already banned non-essential travel to twelve states for anti-LGBTQ laws: Texas, Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee.