LOS ANGELES (KNX) — The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday suspended all official travel to the states of Texas and Florida over new anti-LGBTQ laws.
The motion by Supervisors Sheila Kuehl and Hilda Solis concerns travel for county business that is paid for with taxpayer money. It received unanimous approval from board members.
The controversial laws in question include one recently signed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis that prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade. The law has been dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” law. The law has triggered student protests and walkouts as well as boycott movements against the state’s tourism and entertainment industries.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed another order instructing the state’s Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate the parents of transgender teens for child abuse. A local judge later issued a temporary injunction, blocking Austin from enforcing the order.
“As we’ve done in the past where states have enacted some egregious laws that contravene everything that we have done in L.A. County and in California, this motion calls for a travel ban on all travel to these states,” L.A. County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said on Tuesday.
“We’re not [going to] spend our money going to your states and it sends a message that we won’t support this egregious behavior,” she added.
L.A. County’s order suspends travel to the two states “unless the Chief Executive Officer determines that the failure to authorize such travel would seriously harm the [c]ounty’s interests.”
The ban will be lifted when either of the Florida or Texas policies are suspended, Kuehl’s motion said.
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