Political correctness creeping into sports

In the past, I’ve had conversations with people who told me if you wanted to see what was going to happen in Georgia in five years, look to California. If you wanted to see what would happen in Albany in three years, look to Atlanta.

Political correctness in sports is now upon us, but it really began several years ago when the NCAA banned sanctioned tournament events in Mississippi and South Carolina because of the Confederate flag.

After that we had then-San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick kneeling during the national anthem prior to NFL games, followed by the NCAA slamming the state of North Carolina with a sanctioned tournament ban because of the state’s stance on HB2, which critics called the most anti-LGBTQ bill in the country.

That law directed all public schools, government agencies and public college campuses to require multiple-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities, such as locker rooms, be designated for use only by people based on their “biological sex” stated on their birth certificate.

Then there is the issue of biological males who self-identify as females competing against biological females in track and wrestling, mostly at the high school level. This totally guts Title IX’s intent of putting female sports on a level with men.

But that’s another story that will have to be addressed later.

In the meantime, the Golden State of California last month passed AB 1887, which issued a state-sponsored, state-funded travel ban on eight states that California officials say has laws discriminating against LGBTQ people.

In AB 1887, pushed by state Attorney General Xavier Beccera, the California Legislature determined that “California must take action to avoid supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.” To that end, AB 1887 prohibits a state agency, department, board or commission from requiring any state employees, officers, or members to travel to a state that, after June 26, 2015, has enacted a law that:

(1) Has the effect of voiding or repealing existing state or local protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression;

(2) Authorizes or requires discrimination against same-sex couples or their families on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression; or

(3) Creates an exemption to anti-discrimination laws in order to permit discrimination against same-sex couples or their families on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression. In addition, the law prohibits California from approving a request for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to such a state.

The following states are currently subject to California’s ban on state-funded and state-sponsored travel: Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas.

“Our country has made great strides in dismantling prejudicial laws that have deprived too many of our fellow Americans of their precious rights,” Becerra said in a statement last week, “Sadly, that is not the case in all parts of our nation, even in the 21st century.”

As far as AB 1887 goes, the only sporting event at immediate risk was Fresno State University’s trip to Alabama for a football game on Sept. 9. Lawmakers, however, were wise enough to amend the bill to exempt contracts signed before Jan. 1, 2017. The Fresno State contract was signed in 2015.

In general, people living in the South despise being told how they should act by folks in California. And, in truth, the travel ban is more style vs. substance. Still, it’s a complicated issue that will make some shake their heads and others nod in approval.

And it’s not going away anytime soon.