California may end its travel ban to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws

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The California legislature has voted to repeal a 2016 law that bans publicly funded travel to 26 states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws. The repeal, Senate Bill 447, would create a fund to promote LGBTQ+-inclusive campaigns in these states instead.

The state Assembly voted 64-12 in support of the repeal on Monday, and the state Senate voted 31-6 in support of it on Tuesday. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) now has until October 14 to decide whether to sign the repeal into law.

The repeal would create a fund known as the BRIDGE Project – BRIDGE being an acronym for “Building and Reinforcing Inclusive, Diverse, Gender-Supportive Equality.”

The project would “create a fund that could be used to create non-partisan, inclusive messaging, discourage discrimination, and help members of the LGBTQ+ community feel less isolated,” the repeal says. This messaging would “raise public awareness and promote civil rights and antidiscrimination through education, advertising, and marketing activities,” the text states.

California began restricting travel to states with anti-LGBTQ+ laws in 2016 after North Carolina passed a law…

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