SUNY Geneseo Swimming and Diving has found itself in the eye of a storm. In 2016 New York governor Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order 155, prohibiting publicly-funded travel to the state of North Carolina in response to that state’s passing of its HB2 law, a piece of legislation seen as discriminatory by the state of New York. EO 155 stipulated:
- All agencies, departments, boards, authorities and commissions to review all requests for state funded or state sponsored travel to the state of North Carolina so long as there is law in effect there that creates the grounds for discrimination against LGBT citizens; and
- To bar any such publicly funded or publicly sponsored travel to such location, unless such travel is necessary for the enforcement of New York State law, to meet prior contractual obligations, or for the protection of public health, welfare, and safety.
New York State’s ban on publicly funded travel shall take effect immediately and shall continue until such law is repealed.
In practical terms, this meant that the SUNY Geneseo athletes would not be allowed to fly in and out of North Carolina, nor stay in hotels in Greensboro, when they compete at 2019 NCAA Division III Swimming and Diving Championships from March 20th-24th at the Greensboro Aquatic Center in Greensboro, North Carolina. As SwimSwam’s Torrey Hart reported last week, several SUNY Geneseo alumni set up a crowdfunding site to raise private funds so that the team could stay in Greensboro and not commute from Virginia.
However, Gov. Cuomo’s office today issued a statement saying the athletes could not use private funds to stay in North Carolina while representing the state of New York. In a statement to News10NBC, the governor’s Senior Advisor Rich Azzopardi said, “The team is traveling to North Carolina and competing in the event, but not staying there. The limited exception is that the team gets to travel there, but not stay in North Carolina and stay in a bordering state instead. The issue is not just tax dollars, but the travel itself. Under the executive order, if you are traveling under the banner of state travel in your state capacity you would ordinarily be banned from traveling there even if there is outside funding, but we are allowing the travel there in this instance to honor their commitment to the NCAA to participate in championships.”
Donors to the GoFundMe page request a refund. Any remaining funds will be donated to the SUNY Geneseo Swimming and Diving program.
Guffaw at the hard left.
Last month the Big East swam in NYS and Next month the Eastern Zones will be in NYS, maybe Swimming needs to stand with the SUNY swimmers and consider not awarding these championship meets in NYS
To be fair Gov Cuomo also signed Executive Order 157 which penalizes public ;& private Or a isations for their participation I the BDS campaign. That was in 2016 . Still students are learning that sanctions actually affect them down the line or directly.
Over 1 million ppl have left NY since 2010 with NC one of the new addresses. They must have liked what NC is including its ‘bigot ‘ society & laws. Uhaul stats do not show them moving out .
Sad but predictable outcome. This grandstanding law was always bound to be more of a nuisance to New Yorkers than North Carolinians. I personally don’t really care who uses which bathroom, as long as you’re discreet about it. That said, with all the problems we face as a Nation, I can’t comprehend why and how this has become such a front burner issue. 20 year wars with no end in sight, a completely dysfunctional immigration situation, negative real-wage growth for the bottom 50%, foreign entities using our own technology to influence our elections and forement divisiveness, yet this is the hill so many politicians want to stick a flag on and defend at all costs?
This is really silly Andrew. It is akin to not letting our Athletes go to the Olympics for political reasons. Keep it up and your current president will be your next president in 2020.
To me, staying in Danville VA and commuting 1 hour to the meet is a good compromise, and MAKE A LOT OF NOISE ABOUT WHY THEY ARE DOING IT!
I love how Democrats tried to portray the GOP as the party of “special interests” in the last election.
The transgender bathroom bill in NC was repealed last year but the state government also repealed LBGT nondiscrimination ordinances, meaning local NC businesses are free to fire any gay employee they have because they are gay.
This is a tricky minefield. While this is a human rights issue much bigger than any swim meet, should these handful of SUNY schools be at the poster child of controversy? Should the athletes miss out on a well-earned national championship?
You can say it’s unfair to the team, but NC is also unfair to LBGT individuals. But then, why is this team suddenly forced to have anything to do with protesting LBGT discrimination?! They seem to be thrown into an unwinnable situation here… Read more »