The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has banned official travel to Texas or Florida because of policies in those states that have been slammed as anti-LGBT.
KTLA reports the board took action in response to a bill signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade — a measure some critics have called the “Don’t Say Gay” law.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing for investigations into parents of transgender teens after the state attorney general determined that certain gender-affirming treatments and procedures for children are a form of child abuse.
“As we’ve done in the past where states have enacted some egregious laws that contravene everything that we have done in L.A. County and in California, this motion calls for a travel ban on all travel to these states,” LA County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said after the vote earlier this week, according to KTLA. “We’re not gonna spend our money going to your states and it sends a message that we won’t support this egregious behavior.”
The motion banned taxpayer-funded travel to those states “unless the Chief Executive Officer determines that the failure to authorize such travel would seriously harm the County’s interests.”
Supervisors said the ban could be lifted if Texas and Florida rescind their policies.
Reporting by The Washington Times.
