Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is angling to be the keynote speaker at the Democratic National Convention, generated nationwide publicity this week by banning official travel to North Carolina. The action came in response to a new North Carolina law that restricts the use of gendered bathrooms to the respective sexes according to their biological origin.

The travel ban for North Carolina is not a new tactic for Cuomo. Cuomo also ban non-essential travel by New York State employees to Indiana last year.

The action against Indiana came when the Hoosier State failed to enact proposed legislation that would have added sexual orientation to the state’s anti-discrimination rights list. The proposal failed to come to a vote after Republican and Democratic State Senators could not come to a compromise on whether transgendered individuals would be covered by the bill.

The bans are largely symbolic, because New York state employee travel to North Carolina and Indiana is practically non-existent anyway.

Contrast these bans to efforts by Cuomo to promote public travel to Cuba, a repressive communist dictatorship that has jailed untold numbers of political dissidents.  Last May, he announced air service to Cuba from New York City in conjunction with JetBlue Airline. Cuomo also meet with Raul Castro last year in an effort to promote trade with Cuba.

So Cuomo encourages travel to Cuba, where the government harasses, imprisons, and tortures transgendered people, but bans official travel to Indiana and North Carolina.

What’s next? Banning New York State travel to Orlando because there is no transgender version of Mickey Mouse? Or will it be Cuomo overtures to North Korea?

Does anyone remember Ted Cruz decrying New York values? This is the reason why.

https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/governor-cuomo-bans-non-essential-state-travel-indiana