After several months of making threats to move the 2017 All Star game out of Charlotte if lawmakers didn’t repeal HB 2, the NBA has finally decided to actually do it.

The statement alluded to the reported meetings being held in secret between lawmakers and the NBA officials.

“Since March, when North Carolina enacted HB2 and the issue of legal protections for the LGBT community in Charlotte became prominent, the NBA and the Charlotte Hornets have been working diligently to foster constructive dialogue and try to effect positive change.”

The NBA apparently has ignored the fact that the right to sue for discrimination in court has been restored, which was allegedly one of their earlier main complaints. Read the full NBA statement.

The NBA  statement issued offered no specific reasons for the move beyond disliking “the climate created by HB 2”.

“While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2.”

In closing, the statement said that the NBA looks “forward to re-starting plans for our All-Star festivities in Charlotte for 2019 provided there is an appropriate resolution to this matter.” In other words, if North Carolina repeals HB 2, they will come back.  This is politically driven economic blackmail.

Not a single media outlet has asked these NBA officials if their locker rooms are ‘open’, where their transgender players are or if their own players agree with open bathrooms.

Nor has a media outlet covered the NBA’s about long history of politics and capitalism over human rights.

As SisterToldjah at IJ Review writes,  “The NBA is content with punishing North Carolina for a bill protecting women and children while it rakes in billions from expanding operations in countries with brutal human rights records against men, women, and children. The NBA’s sudden concern is not genuine; it’s a product of pressure by the left-wing outrage machine.”

Given the political machinations engaged in by the NBA to date over HB 2, it seems unlikely  that it was a coincidence the NBA statement was delivered on the eve that Donald Trump accepted the Republican nomination. It was also was announced  yesterday that Trump would be coming to Charlotte on July 26th.

Governor, Lt. Governor Respond

Both Governor McCrory and Lt. Governor Forest quickly issued responses to the NBA.

“The sports and entertainment elite, Attorney General Roy Cooper and the liberal media have for months misrepresented our laws and maligned the people of North Carolina simply because most people believe boys and girls should be able to use school bathrooms, locker rooms and showers without the opposite sex present. Twenty-one other states have joined North Carolina to challenge the federal overreach by the Obama administration mandating their bathroom policies in all businesses and schools instead of allowing accommodations for unique circumstances. Left-wing special interest groups have no moral authority to try and intimidate the large majority of American parents who agree in common-sense bathroom and shower privacy for our children. American families should be on notice that the selective corporate elite are imposing their political will on communities in which they do business, thus bypassing the democratic and legal process.” – Gov. Pat McCrory 7/21/16

The Governor’s campaign also issued a statement, further tying the NBA’s blackmail style maneuver to political reasons. The statement points out the man advising the NBA is Bill Clinton’s former White House political adviser:

“It is no surprise that the NBA has chosen to politically target North Carolina during an election year since Doug Sosnick, Bill Clinton’s former White House Political Director, serves as the NBA’s chief political advisor. While it would be front-page news if Karl Rove were advising an organization on how to inflict economic damage on a state to benefit the Republican’s election prospects, this is standard operating procedure for the Clintons, who get away with it thanks to their friends in the media.”

Lt. Governor Dan Forest responded last night, publishing a  statement slamming the NBA for ‘blackmail’ and refusing to apologize for defending women in children in North Carolina.

The Lt. Governor’s statement came to a close with a sentence that provides a  priorities reality check for the NBA, “We will never value a dollar over a woman’s or child’s safety and security.”

The Lt. Governor’s full statement as it appeared on his Facebook page:

“What is happening here is so much bigger than a basketball game. A sovereign state is being blackmailed by a private business (NBA) who is being threatened by a national LGBT lobbying effort, all to force North Carolina to open female restrooms, showers and locker rooms up to men. All of this was done under the guise of “inclusiveness” and other politically correct buzzwords. But the reality is that had we not blocked the Charlotte Bathroom Ordinance from going into effect, sex offenders and pedophiles would have had full access to our women and children in bathrooms around the state. I enjoy the NBA and wanted them to hold the All-Star game in Charlotte but if that game comes with strings attached, strings that would expose women and children to danger, molestation, assault and voyeurism, then no thank you. Take your business elsewhere, and I have no apologies about saying that and never will. The NBA knows the economic hit North Carolina will take from this decision. I wish the NBA would likewise acknowledge the pain, sorrow and devastation a child or woman feels when they are exploited. We will never value a dollar over a woman’s or child’s safety and security.”

More Economic Blackmail to Come

Now that the NBA has delivered the arguably politically well-timed statement, the Human Rights Campaign is now positioning the PGA of America to start attacking North Carolina.

Strong statement from the PGA of America about House Bill 2 and the 2017 PGA Championship: pic.twitter.com/L3RqUEym9M

— Phil Orban (@philorbanWSOC9) July 22, 2016

The statement above is repeated in part in an article at ESPN and it is noted the PGA is not going anywhere, but why? This section of the statement answers that question:

“Since the Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte is a private facility not subject to all of the provisions of HB 2, at the 2017 PGA Championship we plan to allow spectators to use the restroom that conforms with their gender identity or gender expression,”

This part of the PGA statement also shows a complete lack of understanding of HB 2 and the Charlotte ordinance. It is BECAUSE of HB 2 that Quail Hollow Club can have it’s own policies. HB 2 blocked the Charlotte ordinance, under which businesses had no choice but to follow a ban on single sex facilities.

The Democrats in North Carolina are noticeably silent over corporations using their money in an attempt to manipulate law and elections. Unlike the narrative in 2012, apparently now corporations are people.