Family Research Council Statement on NBA All-Star Game Re-Locating to New Orleans

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 19, 2016
CONTACT: J.P. Duffy or Alice Chao, (866) FRC-NEWS or (866)-372-6397

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, the NBA announced it will move the 2017 NBA All-Star Game to New Orleans, Louisiana. The game was originally scheduled to be hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina, but the NBA moved the game out of Charlotte in protest over passage of North Carolina’s House Bill 2, which provides common sense protections for bathroom privacy and against government overreach.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins released the following statement:

“I commend North Carolina Governor McCrory for his political courage and moral clarity in not caving in to the NBA’s threats to move the All-Star game. He stared down the giant of the NBA and stood strong against government discrimination of private entities and for the principles of protecting privacy and safety in government buildings.

“My home state of Louisiana, like North Carolina, is one of 32 states in the U.S. that does not force private businesses to allow men in women’s showers, locker rooms, and restrooms. On the other hand, in New Orleans—the same as in Charlotte—the NBA will be free to divide the restrooms at its own event on the basis of self-professed ‘gender identity’ instead of objective biological sex, if it wishes to do so. Only politics—not the well-being of transgender persons or anyone else—motivated this disruptive and punitive move.

“The hypocrisy of the NBA over North Carolina’s HB 2 law is utterly stunning. The NBA is willing to turn a blind eye and play games in countries, like the People's Republic of China, that regularly oppress their own citizens.

“The NBA should focus on basketball, not on redefining what it means to be male or female,” concluded Perkins.

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