There’s something to be said about the places in the world that work to prevent people from coming in and those that work to keep people from leaving: The ones that better off tend to be in favor of better screening for new arrivals, and places that are falling apart can’t afford to lose what they have.
Exhibit A: California
In the once Golden State’s ongoing and open-minded effort to further insulate itself from harmful ideas and alternative perspectives, California has officially added Florida to the growing laundry list of states viewed as being too bigoted to fiance state-funded travel to. The complete list also including Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and South Dakota. Notice anything in common?
“Make no mistake,” says California Attorney General Rob Bonta, “we’re in the midst of an unprecedented wave of bigotry and discrimination in this country, and the State of California is not going to support it.”
The alleged Q community discrimination in question? Mainly disallowing child genital mutilation and preventing boys from attaining placements and scholarships for girl’s sports. No, really.
In a double-dose of irony, not unlike Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s insinuation that the GOP is the party wanting police funding slashed, Bonta further proposed that red-state governments would prefer to “demonize trans youth than focus on solving real issues like tackling gun violence beating back this pandemic and rebuilding our economy.” In other words, he is mad that the states on his naughty-list won’t help clean up his party’s messes.
Perhaps next California will attempt to ban travel to other states entirely; might help them from losing all that tax revenue from the people moving out. Texas and Florida might appreciate the additional house seats and business, but they really don’t want to become California. There’s a reason California’s law-makers haven’t felt the need to halt travel to California.