To the owners of the teams in the 2016 NBA Playoffs:

We--members and allies of the LGBTQ community--write to ask you to urge the National Basketball Association (NBA)--and Commissioner Adam Silver--to move the 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina until the state repeals the anti-LGBTQ bill passed recently.

Since the passage of HB2, the state has lost the confidence of countless LGBTQ people and businesses. More and more people are calling on the NBA to protest the state's bigotry by moving the All-Star Game. With the playoffs starting and your team in the spotlight, we ask that you join in this outcry and use your voice to pressure the state to correct course.

None of us, especially LGBTQ North Carolinians who are the target of the state's new bigoted law, can wait for politicians to correct course on their own. North Carolina officials have made it clear they will not change HB2--by keeping the All-Star Game in the state, you and Commissioner Silver are enabling state-sanctioned hate. But your voice could undo legalized discrimination in the state as well as send a powerful message to other states, like Mississippi and Kansas, that are considering similar anti-LGBTQ bills.

You have a unique opportunity to pressure anti-LGBTQ lawmakers to restore the rights they stripped away from North Carolinians. Urge the NBA to pull the 2017 All-Star Game out of North Carolina until HB2 is repealed.

Signed,

Members and allies of the LGBTQ community