Citing religious refusal of adoption rule, California bans state travel to Texas
Saying that a new Texas law allowing child welfare providers to deny adoptions to parents based on "sincerely held religious beliefs" is discriminatory, California's attorney general on Thursday banned state-funded travel to Texas.
The attorney general's office said in a news release that Texas' House Bill 3859 "allows foster care agencies to discriminate against children in foster care and potentially disqualify LGBT families from the state’s foster and adoption system." Therefore, California agencies, public universities and boards won't be able to pay for their employees or board members to travel to Texas for work-related trips, the state's attorney general declared.
"While the California DOJ works to protect the rights of all our people, discriminatory laws in any part of our country send all of us several steps back," said Xavier Becerra, the California attorney general. "That's why when California said we would not tolerate discrimination against LGBTQ members of our community, we meant it."
The decision drew a mocking response from the office of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican who signed the bill into law this month.
Read more: https://www.texastribune.org/2017/06/22/citing-religious-refusal-adoption-rule-california-bans-state-travel-te/
Cross-posted in the California Group.
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BTW, Texas Towelie, you've been really carrying one hell of a load in state/local news over the years!
Your string of postings is as dependable as sunrise, there's always something interesting, and I wanted to let you know that I really appreciate it!
I try my best to keep everyone informed and share an occasional laugh. Du is my extended family.
I started out with Texas, then spread to the adjacent states and I went countrywide last year. Hopefully it fills a niche and keeps drawing people back for discussion and for those that are fortunate possibly participate in events within their local area.
Thanks for sayin it, & thanks to Texas Towelie for all the goood OPs. 
