Soon I will be on the road, full of the traveler’s sense of adventure and freedom. The adventure sometimes includes just heading in a certain direction and traveling back roads, confident I will end up where I want to be. I might detour north or south to see a historic site advertised on a road sign. I will detour in any direction for a quilt shop or unique fabric store. I often pull over for the night at a little park previously unknown to me.

My journey now requires more planning. I have not lost that sense of adventure; rather, I am intentionally avoiding states that are passing racist and discriminatory laws and/or strong partners with big energy, My no-fly zone includes Utah, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, and Missouri. I am just one person and my absence does not have much of an economic effect. Still, I refuse now to leave one penny in those states. Here are my reasons for boycotting particular states:

Utah: This is one of our most gorgeous states, and I hope to finish exploring it in the future. I won’t go now because their local, state, and national leaders hope to extract even more resources from our public lands. Think Bear’s Ears, although that is not the only location in danger. If you cannot find a good reason to be concerned, read anything by Edward Abbey! Utah was the first state on my boycott list; however, last spring I had to reroute through there because of a late snowstorm.

Arizona: I attended the University of AZ and lived in Tucson for 10 years. I wandered through the state back then and loved every arid centimeter. That is was a “border” state added to its charm. Now that is a liability because of illegal immigration. In response, AZ has adopted racist policies. An anti-immigration Sheriff was just convicted on criminal charges related to immigrants. Also, remember the bakery owners who refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple? The conservative AZ government passed a denial of service bill to justify and encourage such discrimination.Thankfully, the Governor vetoed the bill. True, bakers in other states refused to sell wedding cakes to gay couples (CO, OR). They are not on my boycott list because state officials took action against the business owners. In Oregon, officials fined the offenders, and the Colorado case will go before the U.S. Supreme Court this fall. Colorado government was appalled at the injustice. Not Arizona.

Texas, Texas, Texas: Even though your list of crimes against human rights and nature is lengthy, I drove 1,000 miles across the state in late winter/early spring 2017 while traveling from Florida to New Mexico. However, recent actions have made you front and center on my state boycott list. The final straw: statewide approval to weaken Sanctuary City guidelines.

Missouri: I never had it in for Missouri; Kerry and I even camped and canoed there in 2000. Now, I am horrified. The NAACP recently issued a travel warning because of a new state law that encourages minority discrimination. In their warning, the NAACP also noted a bold and dangerous discriminatory attitude that permeates the state and urged people of color to stay away.

North Carolina: The whole bathroom bill issue really stinks! Concert organizers and businesses pulled out and the state was forced to repeal their law. I still boycott them because of the attitude of lawmakers who allowed such a law to pass in the first place.

Unless I encounter bad weather and need to reroute, I can continue my boycott. The Arizona/Utah swath is potentially the most inconvenient since I will generally travel between Spokane, WA, and Deming, NM. Still, I have lots of other Blue Highways to transport me across the country, and I sure feel better about being attentive to the non-democratic behavior of some states and refusing to ignore their policies.

As I mentioned, my impact is tiny, but companies with clout are also boycotting some of these states. The largest outdoor retailer trade show has already moved from Utah to Colorado (both summer and winter shows). The City of Oakland has an employee travel ban that prohibits travel to Arizona because of the gay cake issue (SB1070 legislation).Immigrant rights organizations are calling for a boycott against doing business in and traveling to Texas because of the Sanctuary City matter. Others boycotting North Carolina forced them to repeal their bill. If everyone who cares about civil rights joined together, we could make a big difference.

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