When AB 1887 was passed into law in 2016, its purpose was to name, shame and boycott four states — Tennessee, Kansas, North Carolina and Mississippi — which had passed laws that discriminated against LGBTQ+ persons.
The law bans state-funded and state-sponsored travel to places with discriminatory laws. That list has grown now to 23 banned states. But the measure has failed to curb American prejudice. Commentators have decried the ineffectiveness of such performative politics, noting how even California legislators skirted their own legislation when they’ve traveled to red states.
A side effect of the measure has meant that all scholars at public institutions in California, regardless of their race or the subject matter they study, are prohibited from traveling to the banned states. But this law has specifically harmed Black academics in California, where many of us work at state-funded colleges and universities.
