NCAA Devises LGBT Anti-Discrimination Rule For Championship Bids; How Will North Carolina Fare? [VIDEO]

An anti-discrimination rule has been adopted by the NCAA Board of Governors. The initiative was taken by the organization in order to assure that future NCAA championship events will be free from discrimination for especially among people coming from different racial backgrounds, religious beliefs and especially those who identify as LGBT.

The anti-discrimination rule applies to colleges and universities in the US that hope to host NCAA championship events and games. The bidding process will be amended to assure and inclusive environment for the highly diverse higher education community. It is NCAA's priority to provide a safe environment for students, athletes and fans without the fear of discrimination, Kirk Schuz, NCAA chair of the Board of Governors said via NCAA.org. The new measure will also include people with disabilities to be given special access to various facilities.

NCAA told ESPN that colleges and universities that are to host events will write a report of the actions they have taken to prevent discrimination of any kind. The implementation of the anti-discrimination rule will start in the bidding process that is currently happening.

NCAA's anti-discrimination rule comes at the time where many local governing bodies in the country have passed laws in favor of religious beliefs which in turn discriminates people of the LGBT community. In North Carolina, transgenders can no longer use public restrooms according to the gender they identify with, Athletic Business reported. This brings the question of how North Carolina and other states that have similar laws will bid for NCAA events in the future with the anti-discrimination rule in place. For now, North Carolina is scheduled to host a week of NCAA's men's basketball game in 2017 and 2018.

In response, the Charlotte Sports Foundation executive director Will Webb has asked to get a copy of NCAA's anti-discrimination rule. NCAA events included in the rule applies to football, lacrosse, swimming and basketball competitions, Charlotte Business Journal noted. Until he has reviewed the anti-discrimination rule, Webb is unclear as to how North Carolina will fare in hosting future NCAA-sanctioned events.