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"North Carolina legislators passed a bill Wednesday that bars cities and counties&nbsp;in the state from passing their own rules to protect LGBT people from discrimination. You can read the ugly details here&nbsp;--&nbsp;but for now, just know that a prominent North Carolina advocacy group calls it the \"worst anti-LGBT bill in the entire nation.\"The ball, as they say, is now in NBA Commissioner Adam Silver's court.Two years after admonishing the sports world for being behind the curve on LGBT rights, Silver has a chance to put his money where his mouth is. More accurately, he has a chance to take his billion-dollar league's money out of North Carolina for one of its premiere events next year.&nbsp;\n        SEE ALSO:\n        \n            Tom Izzo, Denzel Valentine and the bittersweet beauty of March Madness\n            \n        \n    \nNorth Carolina Republicans scheduled a special one-day session -- at a taxpayer cost of $42,000 -- to pass the bill. Why such a rush? They want it to take effect before April 1, so that the bill can block a planned ordinance in the city of Charlotte that would allow transgender people to use restrooms assigned to the gender with which they identify. State Senate Democrats walked out of the chamber en masse to protest.&nbsp;The 2017 NBA All Star Game and its accompanying weekend of roundball festivities are slated to take place in Charlotte next February. On top of the usual fun, it will be a homecoming for Steph Curry, the league's biggest current star.&nbsp;Already, multiple writers -- starting with Dave Zirin of The Nation&nbsp;and Sean Deveny of The Sporting News&nbsp;-- have called for the NBA to move its premiere showcase out of North Carolina next year.&nbsp;Mashable&nbsp;has reached out to the NBA for more information about what moving a massive event with relatively little notice would entail; we have yet to hear back from them. But logistics don't much matter here. Moving the All Star Game is the right thing to do.&nbsp;Here's why.&nbsp;You fell behind, so catch up\n    \n                    \n\n\n            \n            \n            Jason Collins.\n            Credit: Kathy Kmonicek/AP\n        \n    \nIn 2013, veteran NBA center Jason Collins became the first openly gay athlete in any of the four major American pro sports. He played a handful of games, but was well past his prime and didn't have much of a career after coming out. Not one NBA player has followed in his footsteps since, and progress on this front in the sports world at large has been incremental at best.&nbsp;Adam Silver has shown before that he can take a powerful stand for social justice -- see, for example, how swiftly he dispatched Donald Sterling after the former Los Angeles Clippers owner was caught on tape making racist comments. Within months, Silver forced a sale of the Clippers and banished Sterling from the game.&nbsp;But racism is more overt than anti-LGBT discrimination -- especially in the NBA, where the league's marquee stars are overwhelmingly black. The Golden State Warriors, for example, reportedly planned to walk off the floor just after tipoff of a 2014 playoff game if Sterling wasn't dealt with swiftly.&nbsp;Conversely, we don't know how many gay NBA players are still in the closet. We don't know how what percentage of NBA fans are gay. Anti-LGBT discrimination is more easily ignored in sports than racism, simply because gay people are less visible in that world. The pace of change is slower.&nbsp;Silver knows this -- and somewhat guiltily told The New York Post&nbsp;as much in 2014, after Collins came out.&nbsp;\"I have mixed feelings, because I'm enormously proud that the first openly gay player is playing in the NBA,\" Silver said. \"On the other hand, this is so long overdue that I don't think this should necessarily be on the list of greatest accomplishments of the NBA.\"This is an area where no one in sports should be too proud,\" Silver continued. \"Sports has led society in so many critical areas &hellip; this is one where we fell behind.\"Now here is a chance, Mr. Silver, to be proud. Here is a chance not to \"fall behind\" on LGBT rights. Here is a chance to be on the cutting edge.&nbsp;\"Sports leading society\" is a misty-eyed trope that we in the business love to invoke. There's truth to it, but treacly testaments to the power of sports can quickly become overblown.&nbsp;But that, too, is of secondary importance here. The NBA is a business, a very big business. A business has the right to move a marquee event out of a state that discriminates against an incalculable number of its employees and clients. That's the pragmatic perspective, misty-eyed tropes aside.&nbsp;Whether you look at it this through the macro or micro lens, Silver and the NBA have a chance to be on the right side of history in North Carolina.&nbsp;This is your shot, Mr. Silver. Take it.&nbsp;UPDATE, Thursday, 7:32 p.m. EST: The NBA released the following statement late Thursday. The league expresses concern about the North Carolina bill but says it's unsure what impact that will have on the 2017 All Star Game. Stay tuned.&nbsp;\n    NBA Statement Regarding Legislation Recently Signed Into Law In North Carolina pic.twitter.com/xwoOo9MyeR&mdash; NBA (@NBA) March 24, 2016\n\n\n"
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