By Joshua Vega
SACRAMENTO, CA – As of this week, California has now placed new travel restrictions to the states of Arkansas, Florida, Montana, North Dakota, and West Virginia over the passage of new anti-LGBTQ legislation.
These new travel restrictions would prohibit the state from requiring its employees to travel to the states under the restriction, as well as prohibiting California from approving requests for state-funded or sponsored trips to the states under the restriction.
An exception to this travel ban is if travel to the states under the new restrictions is for the purpose of grant funding or licensure for auditing and revenue collection.
Further action for each California agency and universities will be left up to them on what action is needed to comply with the restrictions.
The states added to the travel restriction list seek to promote measures that prevent and ban transgender girls and women from 
taking part in school sports despite their gender identity. Other anti-LGBTQ legislation that these states seek to push would also block access to health care and overall, limit the rights of those in the LGBTQ population
State Attorney General Rob Bonta gave a statement on the travel restrictions at a news conference this week, stating that it was “unfortunate that some politicians would rather demonize trans youth than focus on solving real issues like tackling gun violence, beating back this pandemic and rebuilding our economy.”
This travel ban is the latest of the back-and-forth travel ban California has engaged.
Last year, Oklahoma’s Governor Kevin Stitt gave an executive order that prohibited all state employees from non-essential travel to California after being put on California’s travel restriction list.
Stitt, in a statement last year, said that “California and its elected officials over the past few years have banned travel to the State of Oklahoma in an effort to politically threaten and intimidate Oklahomans for their personal values. Enough is enough,”
California’s new travel ban was praised by LGBTQ rights groups for California’s ongoing commitment to ensuring LGBTQ people have the same rights as all other Americans.
