On Sept. 14, the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) became the third sports organization to pull all their athletic championships from the state of North Carolina as a result of the passing of the controversial House Bill 2 (HB2).

HB2 was approved by the General Assembly of North Carolina earlier this year on March 23. Article 81, Section 143-760, Subsection (b) states that “Public agencies shall require every multiple occupancy bathroom or changing facility to be designated for and only used by persons based on their biological sex,”: biological sex being defined in Section 115C-521.2 as “the physical condition of being male or female, which is stated on a person’s birth certificate.”

In layman’s terms, the law provides a loophole for North Carolina businesses to discriminate against members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer (LGBTQ+) community and makes it mandatory that transgender citizens use public bathrooms designated to their assigned sex at birth.

In the wake of HB2, it was announced over the summer that the National Basketball Association (NBA) decided to relocate the 2017 NBA All-Star Game from Charlotte, North Carolina to New Orleans, Louisiana. Following the NBA’s removal from the state, on Sept. 13, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) also relocated all their neutral site athletic championships from North Carolina, including March Madness basketball games and baseball, lacrosse, golf, soccer and tennis NCAA championship games. The ACC followed suit the next day; the organization removed the ACC Championship Football game, held annually in Charlotte since 2010, along other sporting events from North Carolina.

In a statement released after their announcement, the ACC Council of Presidents said, “As members of the Atlantic Coast Conference, the ACC Council of Presidents reaffirmed our collective commitment to uphold the values of equality, diversity, inclusion and non-discrimination… We believe North Carolina House Bill 2 is inconsistent with these values, and as a result, we will relocate all neutral site championships for the 2016-17 academic year.”

The recent turmoil has attracted the attention of various high profile athletes, including recently retired United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) midfielder Heather O’Reilly, who spent four years playing for the University of North Carolina (UNC). In a recent instagram post, O’Reilly said “North Carolina is better than this and with new leadership, I know the state I love will once again be a place I am proud to call home.”