Warriors star Stephen Curry on Thursday made this strongest statement thus far regarding the discriminatory North Carolina law that has resulted in numerous businesses disassociating themselves from his home state.
The latest to skip town is the NCAA, which on Tuesday moved seven championship games out of the state -– including a first-round regional in the men's basketball tournament scheduled for Greensboro – as a reaction to the HB2 law that allows local businesses to discriminate against LGBT persons.
"I think it's unfortunate for our city and our state to be under the microscope with HB2 and how it's unfolded," Curry told The Associated Press. "I'm all for equal and fair rights and treatment for everybody. Until it gets addressed, until some changes are made, this could be a recurring theme in North Carolina. I don't want that happen."
The law requires people to use the bathroom associated with their sex at birth and also excludes protections on the basis of gender identity and sexual orientation.
The NCAA is moving championship events in basketball and six other sports: men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis, women's golf, women's lacrosse and baseball. The action taken by the board of governors follows several previous relocations, including one by the NBA, which in July pulled its 2017 All-Star Weekend out of Charlotte.
"The All-Star Game has been moved, the NCAA Tournament, things that would bring so much joy and support to the city, mainstay events," Curry said. "But I think it's a conversation that will continue until changes are made.
"I don't have any answers as to how that will happen, but hopefully it happens sooner rather than later."
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Several entertainers also have backed out of events in North Carolina, including Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam and Ringo Starr.
HB2 is hitting the state in the pocketbook, something that displeases Curry, whose attended high school and college in North Carolina. His parents live in the Charlotte area and his father, Dell, is an analyst for the Hornets.
Curry, 28, has long welcomed the opportunity to speak out on social issues, and he's doing so more frequently as his star rises. He was voted the MVP in each of the last two seasons, unanimously in 2016.
