Connecticut governor Dannel Malloy is prohibiting state employees from traveling to Indiana, and the UConn men’s basketball team is happily obliging.
Kevin Ollie and his staff will boycott the Final Four and the annual National Association of Basketball Coaches convention in Indianapolis, the university announced Tuesday night. The travel ban and the announcement came in the wake of Indiana’s controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which allows businesses to essentially discriminate against certain customers — namely the LGBT community — on the basis of religious freedom.
“In support of Governor Malloy’s travel ban to the state of Indiana, Kevin Ollie and other members of the UConn men’s basketball staff will not travel to Indianapolis for the NCAA Final Four and events surrounding it,” UConn president Susan Herbst said in a statement, per Yahoo! Sports. “UConn is a community that values all of our members and treats each person with the same degree of respect, regardless of their background and beliefs and we will not tolerate any other behavior.”
Though UConn likely will be one of few schools boycotting the tournament and the conference, it won’t be alone. USC athletic director Pat Haden tweeted Tuesday that as the “proud father of a gay son,” he too will not go to Indianapolis.
Thumbnail photo via Justin Ford,USA TODAY Sports Images
