California’s LGBTQ+ travel ban now applies to over half of the states after these three were added

In a remarkable milestone, California will restrict state-funded travel to three more U.S. states that have recently passed anti-LGBTQ+ legislation, bringing the total number subject to the ban to 26, or more than half of all U.S. states.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta barred state-funded travel to Missouri, Nebraska, and Wyoming on Friday, in accordance with California Assembly Bill 1887, which requires the AG to restrict state-funded travel to states supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender Americans. 

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The attorney general’s office is mandated under A.B. 1887, passed in 2016, to maintain a complete list of those states and act on their addition.

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For the Missouri ban, Bonta called out S.B. 39, signed into law in June by Republican Gov. Michael Parson. The law prohibits public school districts, including charter schools and public and private colleges and universities, from allowing trans girls to compete in any athletic competition consistent with their gender identity. The travel ban takes effect with the new law in August.

In Nebraska, Bonta cited L.B. 574, the so-called “Let Them Grow Act,” signed in May by Republican Gov. Jim Pillen. That legislation denies gender-affirming care for trans people 19 years old or younger. The ban takes effect in November when the new law does.

In Wyoming, Bonta referenced S.F. 133, which took effect in March without the governor’s signature and bans public K-12 schools — as well as private schools competing against public schools — from allowing female trans students to participate in female sports teams, and features a backdoor “activity eligibility commission” in the event the law is struck down by the courts. The travel ban takes effect immediately.

The new laws “aren’t just discriminatory, they constitute a clear case of government overreach — and it’s an alarming trend we’re witnessing across the country,” Bonta said, announcing the new restrictions. “By preventing transgender individuals from participating in sports aligned with their gender identity, or by denying them access to critical healthcare, these legislative actions directly contradict the values of inclusivity and diversity.”

According to the AG, the new legislation deepens the alienation of LGBTQ+ youth “who are already subject to pervasive discrimination, bullying, and hate crimes.”

“In the face of such a gross misuse of public resources, California firmly denounces these laws,” Bonta added.

The attorney general’s announcement is at odds with an effort in California to repeal travel ban mandates, even as they grow to include a majority of U.S. states.

In Sacramento, State Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins (D) introduced legislation repealing the state’s restrictions. The out lawmaker voted for the original mandate, enacted after North Carolina’s notorious “bathroom bill” took effect in 2016.

“We have now had 23 states that fall under that legislation,” Atkins said last week, before the AG’s latest additions. “I think it’s time to pivot because it’s not as effective as it could be.”

In San Francisco, the Board of Supervisors voted in May to repeal their own set of travel restrictions, also enacted in 2016, citing a report that said the city was losing money in their effort to deter LGBTQ+ discrimination.