California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) announced a ban on state-funded travel to Iowa on Friday in response to an Iowa law that prohibits Medicaid from covering gender transition surgeries, according to The Sacramento Bee.
Iowa becomes the latest addition to a list that also includes Alabama, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas under a 2016 law, Assembly Bill 1887, which bans state-sponsored travel to states that enact laws perceived as discriminatory on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.
From the website of the California Office of the Attorney General:
In AB 1887, the California Legislature determined that “California must take action to avoid supporting or financing discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people.” (Gov. Code, § 11139.8, subd. (a)(5).) 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 or 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 or on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression. (Gov. Code, § 11139.8, subds. (b)(1), (2).) In addition, the law prohibits California from approving a request for state-funded or state-sponsored travel to such a state. – READ MORE