On Thursday, while still in the midst of his U.K. travels, President Barack Obama stated that the current laws in North Carolina and Mississippi which have been called “Anti-LGBT laws” are “wrong” and should be “overturned.” The statement comes just days after the British government issued an advisory to its people about travelling to those states, interpreted by many as a call to boycott.
While, as his presidency has shown, Barack Obama supports marriage equality and protections of the rights of the LGBT community, his speech has been said to mainly be a move to ensure that tourists from the United Kingdom (U.K.) continue to visit these “Anti-LGBT” southern states during their travels. USA Today wrote of the delicate balancing act that Obama’s speech had the duty of relaying, speaking out against possible travel boycotts to North Carolina and Mississippi while making it clear that he does not believe in the laws which they have recently enacted.
Obama says NC law that restricts protections for LGBT people should be overturned: https://t.co/Ydp7V0L1nG
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) April 22, 2016
Though the White House officials have criticized the “Anti-LGBT laws” in those states and others who are attempting to put forth similar measures, the speech on Friday was the first time the president has spoken out about his position on the laws.
“I want everybody here in the United Kingdom to know that the people of North Carolina and Mississippi are wonderful people. They are beautiful states and you are welcome and… I think you’ll be treated with extraordinary hospitality. I also think that the laws that have been passed there are wrong and should be overturned… They were in response to politics in part, in part some strong emotions that are generated by people, some of whom are good people, but I just disagree.”
Discussions surrounding the “Anti-LGBT laws” are said to be a concern that British Prime Minister David Cameron and President Obama will be addressing during Obama’s visit to the U.K.
With the restrictions against LGBT persons in Mississippi and North Carolina, Washington Post wrote that the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom recently issued a warning to any of its British citizens considering travel of the discrimination they could possibly encounter in these states because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. The warning was posted on the website of the office, and many saw it as an encouragement to U.K. citizens to boycott travel to those places in support of LGBT rights.
“The U.S. is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country. LGBT travelers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi.”
The controversial “Anti-LGBT laws” which the two Southern states recently enacted have gotten them a significant amount of negative press, and dozens of businesses and celebrities have ceased expansions, meetings, and performances in both states while the laws exist, often encouraging further boycott. In Mississippi the new laws gives permission to service providers to withhold and deny said service from lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and transgender persons based on religious grounds. North Carolina’s bill wages “war” on transgender persons with an insistence that these individuals only use the bathroom which matches the gender they were assigned at birth, as well as preventing any local governments from providing protections for persons against discrimination having to do with their gender identity and sexual orientation.
Obama says NC law that restricts protections for LGBT people should be overturned: https://t.co/Ydp7V0L1nG
— AP Politics (@AP_Politics) April 22, 2016
Prime Minister Cameron defended the advice the Foreign Office of the U.K. provided, however, stating that the information given is “dispassionately, impartially” based on the laws and situations which its citizens may encounter when they travel, and is not a call to boycott. Nonetheless, the existence of the laws was worrisome.
“Our view on any of these kinds of things is that we should use law to end discrimination, rather than embed it or enhance it. And that’s something we’re comfortable saying to countries and friends anywhere in the world.”
[Photo Courtesy of WPA Pool / Getty Images]
