The NCAA will review its relationship with the state of Indiana after a controversial “religious freedom” bill passed Thursday, allowing Indiana businesses to openly discriminate against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.
NCAA ‘concerned’ with Indiana’s LGBT discrimination bill
President Mark Emmert released a statement regarding the controversial bill and next week’s Final Four.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The NCAA’s headquarters are located in Indianapolis and the Men’s Final Four is being held there next week. NCAA president Mark Emmert released a statement addressing the bill.
“The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events. We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees. We will work diligently to assure student-athletes competing in, and visitors attending, next week’s Men’s Final Four in Indianapolis are not impacted negatively by this bill. Moving forward, we intend to closely examine the implications of this bill and how it might affect future events as well as our workforce.”
The NCAA is not the only organization reconsidering its relationship with the state.
Tabletop gaming convention Gen Con, usually held in Indianapolis, announced Thursday it would cancel all programs held within the state. C.E. Bell at Off Tackle Empire makes the case for Jim Delany and the Big Ten to join Gen Con’s boycott of the state. And the LGBT Sports Coalition has called for all major sporting events to be moved from Indiana.
Update, March 27: The Big Ten has commented:
The Big Ten Conference and its member institutions believe in promoting an inclusive environment in which athletic competition can operate free from discrimination. The conference is aware of the bill that was recently signed into law in the state of Indiana and will further review its impact at the next scheduled meetings of its administrators, presidents and chancellors.
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