An all-star weekend worth missing

This is the NBA’s all-star weekend. The NBA is holding it in New Orleans. Originally, Charlotte was to be the host city. However, the league moved it because it disagrees with North Carolina’s law regarding bathroom usage.

The law in question nullified a Charlotte ordinance that required businesses to allow transgender individuals who have not taken surgical and legal steps to change the gender noted on their birth certificate to use restrooms based on their own gender identification. Businesses can still allow transgender individuals to use the facilities of the gender they identify with, but are not required to permit this.

The law shocked the liberal sensibilities of NBA commissioner Adam Silver and/or certain NBA sponsors, so the game had to be moved.

I can’t quite say that I’m boycotting all-star weekend in response. I haven’t watched an NBA all-star game in years. I occasionally catch a little bit of the junk, made-for-television contests that fill up the weekend. This year, I’ll make it a point not to.

I explained my position here, stating:

The presumption should be against sports leagues trying to coerce states and localities into reversing their public policies. However, if NBA commissioner Adam Silver really believes there’s a moral imperative to force businesses into allowing folks with a penis to use the ladies room when that’s their preference, then the NBA’s decision to move the all-star game is understandable.

However, it would also be understandable if those who strongly support the North Carolina law on privacy grounds decide to boycott the NBA, and certainly the all-star game. Similarly, a boycott would be understandable on the part of those who don’t see the moral imperative Adam Silver perceives and resent his heavy-handed effort to promote what’s really just a policy preference.

Put me in that camp. To me, Silver’s stance is moralistic, not moral.

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