Tell the ACC to Protect Safety and Privacy

Our friends in North Carolina need your help!

The Atlantic Coast Conference (“ACC”), which is headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, is threatening to move championship games out of North Carolina because the state passed a bill that, in part, prioritized safety and privacy over political correctness. Governor Pat McCrory signed legislation (HB 2) preventing local governments, like Charlotte, from forcing private entities such as charities, non-profits, and other businesses to allow biological men in women’s showers and bathrooms. Government should not force charities and businesses to adopt policies that threaten the privacy of women and children.

The ACC Council of Presidents are meeting to determine its relationship with North Carolina moving forward.

The ACC currently has scheduled eleven championship events in North Carolina. The ACC’s threat to pull out of North Carolina follows the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) Monday announcement that it would pull its championship games from the state. The NCAA said it would not exert pressure on the conferences to move events from North Carolina, but the NCAA’s announcement itself may have sway on the various conferences, including the ACC.

That these athletic organizations are promoting policies that allow men to use showers, bathrooms, and locker rooms of women and girls is outrageous. This essentially amounts to political campaigning against the re-election of those, such as Governor Pat McCrory, who showed great political courage and moral clarity when he stood against government overreach toward private entities–including against Obama’s Department of Justice currently suing the state. Thirty-two states have laws and policies similar to those in North Carolina because the law is good policy that prioritizes privacy and safety.

Only politics — not the well-being of persons who identify as transgender — motivated this disruptive and punitive move by the NCAA, and we need your help to encourage the ACC to stay out of politics and focus on athletics. After all, having showers and bathrooms designated based on biological sex, as HB2 requires, makes as much sense as having basketball, soccer, and tennis tournaments separated based on biological sex.

TAKE ACTION: Please contact the ACC as soon as possible and urge Commissioner John Swofford to remain in North Carolina. Contact the ACC via phone (336-854-8787), the ACC’s Facebook page (click the “Message” icon), or via email at [email protected].

Here’s a sample message you can use to contact the ACC:

I am writing to urge you to remain in North Carolina. The ACC is an athletic conference and should remain focused on athletics, rather than supporting discriminatory government policies that threaten the privacy and safety of women and girls. North Carolina’s HB2 is good policy that prevents local municipalities from punishing private organizations for designating bathrooms and locker rooms based on biological sex, rather than subjective, gender identity. HB 2 allows private entities to make such decisions if they choose, but the government should not force them to do so. It is unfair for the ACC to threaten the people of North Carolina by withdrawing championship games from the state. Please maintain your headquarters in Greensboro, North Carolina, and your relationship with the state.