HOUSTON

For the second straight year, NCAA President Mark Emmert faced questions at his Final Four news conference about a state’s religious exemption law that critics say allows discrimination against gays, lesbians and others.

And for the second straight year, Emmert said the association is prepared to refrain from doing business in that state and others that create what it considers unwelcoming environments for student athletes, coaches and fans.

Last year, Indiana was the target of Emmert’s remarks. This year it was North Carolina. With several states working on similar proposals, the NCAA has bound itself to a stance and an issue that shows no signs of going away. That could even lead more to a more proactive approach in the future by the NCAA to stop these laws from being passed.

“We’re trying very hard to be situation-specific, to represent the views and values of intercollegiate athletics and higher education aggressively and to make people understand that we think some of these laws are movements in a direction that are not supportive of what we stand for and make it very, very hard, if not impossible, for us to operate in those states or those municipalities,” Emmert said Thursday.

Last year during the week leading up to the Final Four in Indianapolis, Emmert and the NCAA were pulled into a contentious debate about an Indiana law that critics feared would lead to discrimination against members of the LGBT community.

North Carolina is now receiving similar attention for a law that has drawn many of the same criticisms.

The law approved March 23 by the North Carolina legislature and signed by Gov. Pat McCrory was a response to an impending ordinance in Charlotte, North Carolina, that in part would have allowed transgender people to use the restroom aligned with their gender identity.

McCrory has defended the law, saying the public has an expectation of privacy while using restrooms and locker rooms and shouldn’t have to share them with someone who has anatomy different than theirs. A federal lawsuit has been filed to overturn the law, and more than 100 company executives have signed a letter delivered to McCrory calling the law discriminatory and demanding it be repealed. Emmert said he has spoken with McCroy.

The NCAA has numerous championship events scheduled to be held in North Carolina over the next three years, including first- and second round men’s basketball tournament games in 2017 (Greensboro) and Charlotte (2018). Cary is set to host the Division I women’s soccer finals and there are several Division II and III events already on the calendar.

NCAA men

NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament
By The Associated Press
FINAL FOUR
At NRG Stadium
Houston
National Semifinals
Saturday, April 2
Villanova (33-5) vs. Oklahoma (29-7),
6:09 p.m.
North Carolina (32-6) vs. Syracuse
(23-13), 8:49 p.m.
National Championship
Monday, April 4
Semifinal winners