Governor Cuomo seems to place his own conditions on the expansion on Civil Rights. On the one hand, he is banning travel to North Carolina due to the following statement: In the statement, Cuomo said, "In New York, we believe that all people — regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation — deserve the same rights and protections under the eyes of the law." Sounds great. He is taking a strong stand. Right? Yes an no. He opens himself to criticism that he is using the situation in North Carolina for political points. If the Governor truly believed in his executive order, he would have discouraged travel to tonight's game in Houston that involves Syracuse versus ironically, North Carolina in NCAA Basketball's Final Four. After all, Houston voters passed an amendment known as the HERO ordinance that is exactly what North Carolina just passed this month.
When civil rights takes a back seat to a basketball game, people fail to see the connection that the Governor tried to make in his travel ban. Conservatives will rally the base and point out this very point. Houston is our 4th largest city., and has a much larger economy than North Carolina. People in the south will see this as the Governor trying to bully them by trying to impact Social Policy. Similar to the days of Dixie, the North is trying to tell the South what to do.
The bottom line is the Governor should be consistent regarding his stand on civil rights. If he was truly passionate about the issue, he would have challenged the game tonight by making a statement about how the LGBT community is treated in Houston.
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