Governors in New York, Vermont, and Washington have banned state employees from most work-related travel to Mississippi after the southern state enacted a discriminatory anti-LGBT law on Tuesday.
After Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (R) signed the discriminatory HB 1523 into law Tuesday morning, a few state governors immediately responded to the state’s backwards legislation by issuing travel bans. On Tuesday afternoon, Washington Governor Jay Inslee (D) officially banned non-essential state travel to Mississippi, stating his obligation to protect equality for all persons, including Washington residents who might travel to Mississippi. “It is the law of Washington state and the policy of my administration to demand equality for all persons,” Inslee wrote in a memo announcing the decision. The ban will remain in effect as long as Mississippi’s law exists “in its current form,” according to his office. Inslee also banned non-essential, state-funded travel to North Carolina last week after the state passed a law explicitly discriminating against transgendered people.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (D) also issued an Executive Order banning non-essential state travel to Mississippi, following a request from openly gay Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell (D). Governor Cuomo issued a similar travel bans for Indiana and North Carolina after those states passed their own anti-LGBT laws. Cuomo’s ban on state travel to Indiana has since been lifted.
Today I signed an executive order banning all non-essential state travel to Mississippi: https://t.co/nGicsQul2m pic.twitter.com/UsvBkvfx2Q
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 5, 2016
Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (D) issued a similar ban on Tuesday, and invited online payment company PayPal to consider relocating to Vermont after the business announced it was pulling out of North Carolina Tuesday morning in reaction to an anti-LGBT law passed in the state last week.
Notably, Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), who is openly bisexual, refused to issue a travel ban for her state, citing concerns over potential complications and unintended consequences. However, Brown still emphatically denounced Mississippi’s new law, and urged Oregonians to “stand up to hate.”
The new Mississippi law is explicitly anti-LGBT. It proclaims that transgender identities aren’t valid, marriage is exclusively heterosexual, and extra-marital intercourse is objectionable. Furthermore, the new law allows for a long list of discriminatory actions under the guise of “religious liberty.” For example, Mississippi businesses are now legally permitted to deny services to same-sex couples, and woman can even be fired for wearing pants. Several Mississippi cities have passed resolutions condemning the law, and many Mississippi Democrats and members of the LGBT community have expressed their disappointment with Gov. Phil Bryant.
Even though the travel bans are largely symbolic, they carry the potential to affect Mississippi’s economy, which already ranks dead last in comparison to other states. A number of Mississippi’s largest employers, including MGM Resorts and Nissan, have issued statements opposing the law, and major tech companies have also spoken out, claiming legal discrimination runs contrary to their values.
Bryan Dewan is an Intern at ThinkProgress.