A Democratic lawmaker in California recently told the Los Angeles Times that she is leading an effort to end her state's ban on subsidized travel from states deemed "anti-LGBTQ."
Speaking with columnist Nicholas Goldberg, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins said the prohibition on 23 states from government-expensed help moving has been "a bust."
"I think everyday people are tired of polarization," she declared. "We're so focused on what we believe, and if you don't agree with me, I'm not going to deal with you. It separates us, and that's a really bad thing."
California first enacted a ban on accessing the funds to North Carolina in 2016 after the state passed a law requiring people to use the bathrooms that corresponded with their biological sex.
Since then, the ban has expanded to include 22 other Republican-led states, with Georgia's decision last year to pass similar legislation to North Carolina adding them to that list.
Atkins' office noted that the ban has severely hampered "Californians from being able to conduct research, business, and engage with all people from those states."
"I know from personal experience growing up in a rural community, where it is more conservative, that the way to change people's minds is to have impact and direct contact and to open hearts and minds," the lawmaker recently argued.
In its place, Atkins is proposing that California establish a publicity campaign in red states promoting LGBTQ inclusion.
Dr. Terrell Winder, an assistant sociology professor at the University of California Santa Barbara, told The New York Times in December that the travel bans had prevented him from attending a conference in Louisiana.
"My work depends on building relationships and trust with participants, many of whom understandably can be suspicious of research agendas," Winder stated. "When you have an ongoing project like this, and you make commitments to visit that have to be broken, it hurts the relationship."
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