Connecticut is the fourth state to tell its public employees not to travel to North Carolina. That's in response to a new law in North Carolina critics say discriminates against the LGBT community.
The law requires transgender people to use restrooms and changing rooms that correspond to their sex and not their gender identity. Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy says that means state employees may be in danger if they use a restroom while they’re in North Carolina -- say, for national conferences.
“Imagine an individual who’s transitioning to another sex, who is for all appearances a man, has to go into a woman’s room to use that facility. That’s a very risky proposition. It could be a riotous situation,” Malloy said.
Malloy has now signed an executive order telling state employees to avoid travel in North Carolina unless they’re contractually obligated. He also sent an open letter to North Carolina businesses inviting them to move to Connecticut because he says the state is open and inclusive. And he says he expects North Carolina will eventually overturn the law.
“What North Carolina has made a decision to do is put itself on the wrong side of this argument,” Malloy said.
The states of New York, Washington and Vermont have also banned public employees from travelling to North Carolina.
