Minnesota State Colleges and Universities (MNSCU) barred sports teams from traveling and participating in North Carolina tournaments due to the HB2 bill that limits the rights of LGBT individuals. This would have prevented sports teams to miss out on championship games.

In a statement, MNSCU retracted their earlier statement of banning their college sports teams from traveling and participating in North Carolina tournaments. They are hopeful that the involvement of the US Justice Department will protect their students from discrimination especially among LGBT individuals. The MNSCU college sports teams will be participating in the NCAA Division II national baseball tournament and National Junior College Athletic Division III World Series in North Carolina.


The travel ban was announced on Monday this week. It was spurred by Gov. Mark Dayton's announcement to not take nonessential travels to North Carolina, Grand Forks Herald noted. With the HB2 passed, it was of concern that transgender invdividuals, especially players will have difficulty using facilities like locker rooms and bathrooms according to the gender they preferred.

There are more than 20 Division II schools and colleges under the Minnesota system. This includes St. Cloud State and Minnesota-Duluth who are in the running for qualifying for the national tournaments this spring, ABC News reported. The teams would have been prevented from competing but now that the ban has been lifted and they qualify, they can go to North Carolina to compete.

St. Cloud State baseball coach Pat Dolan was relieved by the travel ban. He explains that the student athletes trained hard to prepare for the games and it would be unfortunate if they could participate at all, SC Times shared.

What do you think of the North Carolina travel ban being lifted? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.

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Tags North Carolina, Minnesota, Travel, Lgbt, Transgender, Sports, College, University