LOS ANGELES: City Council Votes Unanimously To Boycott North Carolina And Mississippi

Add Los Angeles to the lengthy boycott list:

The North Carolina law “overturns all state protections for gay and lesbians and puts new discrimination on the books,” according to Councilman Mike Bonin, who proposed the resolution that was approved on a 12-0 vote. Bonin said the Mississippi law allows rental car businesses to turn away gay couples, and allows for suicide hotline counselors to refuse to help people who are gay.

Bonin said under the boycott, the city would avoid doing business with the two governments and put a ban on city employees making official visits to the states until the two laws are repealed. “When the state sanctions hatred and the state endorses discrimination, hatred and discrimination increases,” creating a “climate of intolerance and a climate of violence,” Bonin said.

Los Angeles joins other cities like New York, Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Honolulu, Cincinnati, Santa Fe, Washington, D.C., and San Francisco, as well as the states of Connecticut, Minnesota, New York and Vermont in the boycott of North Carolina.