San Francisco Mayor Restricts Government Travel to North Carolina Over ‘Discriminatory’ Law

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee on Friday announced a ban on all publicly funded city-employee travel to North Carolina “that is not absolutely essential” in protest of a new law that opponents say discriminates against LGBT citizens.

“We are standing united as San Franciscans to condemn North Carolina’s new discriminatory law that turns back the clock on protecting the rights of all Americans including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals,” the statement reads. “I believe strongly that we should be adding more protections to prevent discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender communities in the United States, not taking them away.”

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed the new law, which bans local governments from enacting their own anti-discrimination policies, on Wednesday. The law specifically takes aim at provisions that would allow transgender persons to use bathrooms that align with their identity, rather than the gender they were assigned at birth.

It is unclear how often San Francisco public employees travel to North Carolina. TIME reached out to the San Francisco Mayor’s office for further details, but did not immediately receive a response. The Mayor instituted a similar ban when the Governor of Indiana signed a religious freedom bill that many saw as taking aim at LGBT persons. That ban was lifted when the Gov. signed an amendment to that bill.

The state of North Carolina has face fierce backlash because of the law, with corporations and organizations threatening to move their business away from the state.