Hello all, Recently, HB2 (or the "bathroom bill") was passed in North Carolina. This bill repeals anti- discriminatory laws and allows state entities and private businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ people. Since then, a number of businesses/influential people (e.g., PayPal and Bruce Springsteen), have shown their support for North Carolina's LGBTQ community by refusing to do business in the state.
The Wildlife Society's 2016 National Conference is being held in Raleigh, North Carolina, and in light of HB2's passing, a few of my friends and I wanted to hear what others had planned regarding their participation in the conference. We've created a poll and would love if you took 20 seconds to answer: http://goo.gl/7CTQxv We made this poll to show the Wildlife Society that their members do care about diversity and that we don't intend to just pay lip service regarding how important diversity is, both in the wildlife profession and in society. Our ultimate goal is to have the Wildlife Society move the location of the conference, but if that doesn't occur we believe that the Wildlife Society should send an official complaint to the governor of North Carolina stating that the conference will not be held in the state in the future if the bill is not repealed. We also feel that an official statement of support for North Carolina's LGBTQ community should be posted on the conference website as an affirmation that the Wildlife Society means what they say regarding their code of ethics (i.e., "be mindful of their responsibility to society, and...studiously avoid discrimination in any form...") Thank you for your participation!
