To bad he can’t threaten to move the Hornets out of the state. Unfortunately an owner is involved.
Yep, that would be great although a rumor, so to speak, could easily be circulated to that effect, eh?
I think his whole point is not to “threaten” anything, or give ultimatums. He is actually being diplomatic and mature about it, and it would not surprise me to see the NC legislature back off and repeal the law. I have not been a fan of cancelling soon upcoming shows and such (that just screws the fans, concession workers, etc.). But this event is 10 months away. Give the legislature a few weeks to do this. If they don’t you say “well, we tried, but now we have no choice but to move the venue”.
And no, you can’t take the team out of NC. That is totally an owner call, just like any businesses wanting to move is an owner call. For an NBA commissioner to force a team to move is way out of line. Totally different issue. Voluntary boycott is fine. Forced boycotts and such are nuts, more communist or fascist tactics.
NBA Chief: NC Must Change Anti-LGBT Law To Keep All-Star Game
Apparently took a week to get NBA-Legal to sign off.
jw1
You can’t tell an owner he’s got to sell his team, either. Yet Silver didn’t have any trouble making that call when it became necessary.
It’s early in the process and I’m not going to fault him for taking a go-slow approach. The fact he referenced the presence of a franchise in the state, however, makes clear he is making that part of the conversation. The politicians in NC better take notice, or they could lose some of those status symbols they’ve been so assiduously accumulating.
That is the whole point of the cancellations.
The wingnuts need to see direct harm to the people of NC because of the witless prejudice shown by the legislature’s right-wing majority.
Slowly, but surely, the economic screws are tightening. The tightening will continue and it will have an effect. How much of an effect remains to be seen. The law will be rescinded or amended. Let’s hope for the former.
While I disagreed with the pressure put on Sterling to sell, that decision was made due to his behavior (“willful violation of the rules” was cited), not the behavior of a 3rd party (in the current situation the NC legislature). Plus the NBA had said that the consent of 3/4 of all Team owners would have to agree to the decision to force him to sell. Remember he was banned from the League first due to behavior. But I do believe that half of the $2 billion paid is still in escrow due to Sterlings pending lawsuit. Banning him from the League might not mean he had to sell the team, that decision is still pending.
The legislature has forfeited it’s chance to “back off” when it passed the law to begin with. The whole point of boycotts, economic threats, and immediate pressure is to not allow them to slow play the process of repealing the law.
I think Republicans are going to dig in across the South and elsewhere. A “We’re tired of being pushed around, tired of the freaks and fags, tired of the Blacks and greasers, we’re drawing a line in the sand” vibe is very much in the air. SCOTUS ruled on gay marriage, Kim Davis threw her tantrum and lost, and everyone figured that would be it. States would have to get with the program. Except they aren’t. They’re drafting work-arounds. Just like abortion clinics are being shut down over myriad state laws having nothing to do with the procedure, LGBT relationships and rights will be assailed for years, with legislators working the system. Courts will rule, and just like that states will scramble for exceptions, cracks or blind spots in rulings that allow for ever more games. Blacks were granted the right to vote by the 15th Amendment in 1870, and 146 years later states are still working overtime, drafting rules and laws to deprive them suffrage. It will be no different for the LGBT community. Every human drawing a breath today will be dead and buried and still gays will be persecuted and effed with. Damn the laws, there’s hate, fear, suspicion and pain to be delivered.
Well, the sudden show cancellations were totally ineffective, and they screwed the fans and concession workers. So that strategy did not work.
The NBA’s strategy will be much more effective. Giving them a little time is fine. You back them into a corner and you won’t get squat. It’s called diplomacy, and it works.
I think when you have sudden show cancellations and give ultimatums, that does make them dig in. But in this case, the NBA is being smart and giving them a chance to do the right thing. You should never back people into a corner, it’s not an effective way to do things. Once businesses like the NBA and such start saying they are considering moving elsewhere, the legislature will act accordingly because there will be more public pressure. Tact and diplomacy.
Thank you McCrory for making NC the laughing stock of the nation.
And going slow works even better if you not the one being oppressed.
Art Pope has a big decision to make. Does he want to piss off the NBA and the billionaire owner of the Hornets or does he want to piss off the evangelical bigots who pushed this anti-LGBT crap? In due time he will move his hand and Gov. McCrory will announce the Baron’s decision. The nice people in the NC legislature will do what they are told.
Maybe. But when you’re dealing with humans placing your money on racism, hate, bigotry, homophobia, xenophobia and misogyny is seldom a losing bet. How many takers would there have been in 1870 if a guy said “I bet you 50 bucks in 150 years black people will still be fighting to have the same chance at casting a vote as whites.” ? We’ve actually dismantled laws meant to make enforcement of the 15th Amendment more effective. Go ahead, be hopeful, can’t hurt. I still say the LGBT community is going to have to scratch and claw for every incremental gain they make, and the forces allied against them will never give up on trying to tear down the laws passed to grant them equal treatment. Hate springs eternal.
I think it’s still early in the game to say that it didn’t work. It got their attention, it got the press’s attention, it got folks discussing the issue – and that’s a successful beginning. I don’t believe that Bruce Springsteen or the others thought their cancellations alone would make the NC state legislature run back to the state house and rescind the law. As you well know, these things do take time. I believe it’s a good start, and I believe that as long as businesses keep the screws tight and keep tightening them–and many will–the NC legislature and its feckless governor will eventually take note. Also, November is coming up quickly – and McCrory is bawling like a baby.
You’re wrong about having immediate consequences. During the run up to the vote in Houston, these issues were raised and the right wing laughed it off saying it would have no negative economic impact.
Granted, because Houston voters simply repealed protections - they didn’t mandate bathroom policing or other odious anti-lgbt discrimination - the city didn’t lose out on the planned NCAA Finals or Super Bowl (mostly b/c of long-term contracts). That lack of immediate consequence in Houston was misread in NC and encouraged them to act stupidly.
The upside is that NC and MS have energized the LGBT AND business communities in common cause to prevent this from spreading further - and those concert cancellations help. Just look back at what Ray Charles did during segregation.
Positive reinforcement doesn’t always do the trick.
As a gay boy who grew up in a Southern state (Virginia), I suspect you’re right to some degree. I do suspect that there will still be pockets of resistance fifty years, even a hundred years from now. As long as we keep the laws in place and build on them, we at least have the court system to fall back on. On some level, Justice Roberts was right when he said we need to persuade folks’ hearts, but I fully don’t agree with him that we have lost that battle (that was his sore loser, homophobic self speaking when he said that – and he will be noted for it in the history books).