D.C. Council member calls for ban on city-funded trips to Indiana

Council member David Grosso. (Astrid Riecken for The Washington Post)

D.C. Council member David Grosso (I-At Large) is calling for Mayor Muriel Bowser to ban publicly financed trips to Indiana — a move similar to those of left-leaning politicians throughout the country in the aftermath of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence signing the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law last week.

Many people say that the law could be interpreted in a way that allows businesses to discriminate against gay people in the name of religious freedom, though Pence counters that a lot of misinformation has been spread and that the resulting backlash is unwarranted. The Post’s Hunter Schwartz reports that 19 other states have similar laws on the books, with none facing this level of backlash.

“Discrimination has no place in the District of Columbia, and our public employees should not be forced to travel to a place that prides itself on fueling anti-LGBTQ animosity,” Grosso said in a statement. “The blatant bigotry on display by Governor Pence and the legislature leads me to believe that Indiana is not a safe place for our public employees to travel. Our government should not support any jurisdiction that displays such bigotry, and the Mayor should ban all publicly financed travel to Indiana and stand firmly with our LGBTQ public servants and residents.”

The mayors of Seattle and San Francisco have called for a similar boycott. Connecticut Gov. Dan Malloy says he will sign an executive order banning travel to Indiana.

Bowser’s office did not immediately respond to a comment asking whether she would consider enacting such a boycott.

In July, then-Mayor Vincent Gray urged residents to boycott spending money in the congressional district of Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), who did not support D.C.’s marijuana decriminalization law. But Gray did not sign an executive order on the matter.