Following yesterday's announcement from the NCAA to pull 7 championship events from North Carolina due to the anti-LGBT HB2 legislation, the Atlantic Coast Conference has followed suit by announcing 10 championship events will also be pulled from North Carolina.
The Atlantic Coast Conference voted Wednesday to find other sites for its championship games through the 2016-17 school year while the law remains in effect.
The 10 events include baseball, basketball, soccer, diving, tennis and golf.
Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality NC, the statewide LGBTQ rights organization, issued a statement which read in part, "It has never been more clear than it is right now – HB2 is hurting our state every minute that it remains law."
Via press release:
Statement from the ACC Council of Presidents:(h/t JoeMyGod)
“As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination. Every one of our 15 universities is strongly committed to these values and therefore, we will continue to host ACC Championships at campus sites. We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year. All locations will be announced in the future from the conference office.”
Statement from Clemson University President James P. Clements, chair of the ACC Council of Presidents:
“The ACC presidents engaged in a constructive, wide-ranging and vigorous discussion of this complex issue over the past two days. The decision to move the neutral site championships out of North Carolina while HB 2 remains the law was not an easy one but it is consistent with the shared values of inclusion and non-discrimination at all of our institutions.”
Statement from ACC Commissioner John Swofford:
“The ACC Council of Presidents made it clear that the core values of this league are of the utmost importance, and the opposition to any form of discrimination is paramount. Today’s decision is one of principle, and while this decision is the right one, we recognize there will be individuals and communities that are supportive of our values as well as our championship sites that will be negatively affected. Hopefully, there will be opportunities beyond 2016-17 for North Carolina neutral sites to be awarded championships.”
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