Oklahoma became the first state to strike back at California’s bans on state-funded travel on Thursday, when the state’s governor announced a retaliatory ban on travel here.

California has banned state-funded travel to 11 states that it considers to have laws discriminating against gay and transgender people.

Oklahoma was added to the list in 2018 after it put in place a policy to allow private foster and adoption agencies to deny placing children with certain families based on religious or moral grounds. The City of San Francisco put in place its own ban on travel to Oklahoma this fall.

Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said in a Thursday news release that his announcement was timed around the March for Life, an anti-abortion rally that will take place Friday in Washington, D.C.

“California and its elected officials over the past few years have banned travel to the state of Oklahoma in an effort to politically threaten and intimidate Oklahomans for their personal values,” Stitt said in a statement. “Enough is enough. If California’s elected officials don’t want public employees traveling to Oklahoma, I am eager to return the gesture on behalf of Oklahoma’s pro-life stance. I am proud to be governor of a state that fights for the most vulnerable among us, the unborn….”
The above comes from a Jan. 23 story in the Sacramento Bee.