Pushing boycotts on red states is quickly becoming the Left’s new favorite tactic, and Republican state leaders are going to have to stand strong and united in the face of those threats.
The idea of stripping Utah of the 2023 NBA All-Star Game is already being floated after legislators voted to override GOP Gov. Spencer Cox’s veto of a bill that would prevent men from competing in women’s sports. The Salt Lake Tribune has already reached out to the NBA to kick the tires on the idea, and the outlet also sent “multiple inquiries” to the NCAA to kick-start the pressure campaign. (The paper previously ran a hit job on the head coach of the Utah Jazz for donating to a GOP congressional candidate. The author of that hit job worked on this piece as well).
Activists will undoubtedly take up the battle over the coming year, and the NBA and NCAA have given them a reason to think they will fold. The NBA pulled its All-Star Game from Charlotte in 2017 over the state’s transgender “bathroom law.” The NCAA did the same, pulling several championships from the state. The NCAA also stripped South Carolina of NCAA events until the state took the Confederate flag down from the Statehouse.
The tactic has since moved from easy fights, such as rebel flags and ill-thought-out bathroom legislation, to partisan Democratic battles. President Joe Biden launched a pressure campaign against Major League Baseball, urging the league to move its All-Star Weekend out of Georgia over the state’s voting law. The league folded, doing the bidding of the Democratic Party and moving the game to Democratic-run Colorado. Republicans in Georgia, however, stood strong.
The same playbook is going to be brought out for states that protect the integrity of women’s sports. The American Civil Liberties Union and activist athletes tried to pressure the NCAA to boycott Idaho when the state passed its own protections keeping men out of women’s competitions.
This is why it’s important that Republican-run states hold the line. When South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem got cold feet and vetoed the state’s bill, she left other states out to dry. Recently, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb did the same. Texas and Florida are influential states that sports leagues don’t want to abandon, but they can’t be asked to be the only deterrent. Strength in numbers matters, especially when activists are dragging every law to court.
These calls to boycott Utah will pick up steam in the coming months, all because Republicans think only girls should be playing girls sports. Republican state leaders and Republican states must be resolute in their opposition to the anti-science insanity that is being pushed on sports and other areas of life. Pushovers such as Cox in positions of power dilute that opposition, and they will invite more boycotts from opportunistic, overzealous left-wing activists.
