Vermont, Washington, Boston, Chicago, New York… and most recently, California, are among the states that have banned travel by state employees to North Carolina, as a direct result of HB2.

On a more local scale, scheduled sporting events at UNC have been cancelled because of HB2. Over the summer, Albany field hockey, UConn softball, and Vermont women’s basketball all cancelled their games against UNC.

But one of the biggest effects of HB2 is the NCAA’s decision to withdraw tournaments from the state. Among these big games, is the NBA all-star game and the ACC football championship originally held in Charlotte, and the ACC basketball tournament held in Greensboro.

These games have been played in North Carolina for years and the fact that they are being moved not only has a major effect on NC teams financially, but it also takes away their home court advantage.

Steve Kirschner, senior associate director of UNC athletic communications shared his knowledge on the matter.

“It’s not an unfair advantage because your teams have earned that right to play close to home”, Kirschner said.

There is a comfort level when playing close to home; there’s tremendous fan following, there’s less time traveling…and it creates a special memory between the players and the fans.

“The history of the Atlanta Coast Conference is based here in NC… and to be able to say that we can’t play ACC championships in the state of NC where the history and the backbone of the league is… that’s very disappointing,” Kirschner said.

Certain cities in North Carolina have been hit hard. Cary has lost four NCAA and two ACC tournaments in soccer, tennis, lacrosse and baseball games. The total loss is around $2.5 million from visitor spending and hotel room costs. HB2 has created a huge impact to the towns and the people that it’s affecting whose jobs are also taken away.

As a state, North Carolina has reportedly lost over $400 million so far, from boycotts or pullouts from businesses, including Lionsgate film studio. In addition, companies such as PayPal and Deutsche Bank have cancelled expansion, costing the state more than 1,000 jobs.

The damage may only get worse if changes aren’t made to HB2. First off, according to an estimate, NC could be at risk of losing billions of dollars in federal funding for public schools, highways and housing. Secondly, there is a chance sporting events held in NC will be shut out until 2023 if HB2 isn’t repealed. The NCAA was set to announce its bids on events for the next five years in December but the deadline will be pushed back to give North Carolina a chance to repeal HB2.

This bill has the power to have long lasting effects that economically hurt the state but also hurt NC’s reputation.

“We are a very inclusive university, athletics department, and we want people outside our state to think that way,” Kirschner said.

North Carolina is a state that celebrates diversity and inclusion, despite all of the misunderstandings and misinformation that came with HB2 when the bill was originally passed back in March.

The consensus among most people is to repeal HB2 in order to save North Carolina's economy and bring back the major sporting events that have been a part of NC history.

Several businesses around the Chapel Hill and Carrboro area are showing their opposition by changing their bathroom signs to “gender neutral,” or “no birth certificate required,” including Caribou Coffee, Root Cellar, and Steel String Brewery.

No matter what your personal opinion is on HB2, after learning of all the negative effects the bill is causing, step back and think…

Is the bathroom that people choose to use really worth all of this?