The AHA’s 2021 statement requesting that the California State Legislature amend the list of exceptions to AB1887, a law that banned state-funded travel to specified states with anti-LGBTQ laws, was featured in a Stateline article by Matt Vasilogambros. The article described California’s new “Bridge Project,” which is a “public messaging campaign in conservative-leaning states designed to spread a nonpartisan message of acceptance.” The AHA had urged the state legislature to provide an academic exception for the state-funded travel ban. “Surely we want to learn about LGBTQ+ culture and discrimination against LGBTQ+ people,” executive director Jim Grossman said. “The prohibition on using state funds for the purposes of learning was counter to the intent of the statute.”
