John Boyle, jboyle@citizen-times.com

The controversial House Bill 2 that has already cost North Carolina millions of dollars in canceled events and projects apparently has claimed another victim, this time a multiday conference scheduled for the Omni Grove Park Inn in Asheville.

The Michigan-based W.K. Kellogg Foundation was slated to have a four-day conference called the "Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation Summit" at the historic inn in August, bringing some 500 visitors to Asheville. But the foundation canceled in response to the passage of the recent state law that in part requires transgender people to use a bathroom that corresponds to the gender identification on their birth certificates rather than the gender they identify with.

In a statement, the foundation said it is disappointed "with North Carolina's failure to protect all human rights."

"As a result, we are canceling this four-day conference which would have brought over 500 people to North Carolina and generated millions of dollars in economic activity for the state’s local economy," the Kellogg Foundation stated. "The event will now be held in December and in a different state. We will provide additional details about the summit at a later date."

Foundation Spokesman AJ Jones said the event would have had a direct economic impact in Asheville of at least $1.5 million, and that's not counting the amount that would have been paid directly to Omni Grove Park Inn.

Jones said the foundation is not political, but it does want to send a message to policy makers.

"Our message to those involved in policy making is that we are an organization that has a vested interest in all human beings being treated equally, and we take those positions and postures very seriously," Jones said.

More than 100 corporations have criticized North Carolina's legislature over the bill, and its passage already has cost Charlotte a 400-job PayPal operations center and jeopardized dealings with a company considering bringing 500 jobs to Buncombe County. Rock star Bruce Springsteen also canceled a concert in Greensboro over the bill.

"It is unfortunate that the Kellogg Foundation has decided not to have their event at our resort," Omni Grove Park Inn spokeswoman Tracey Johnston-Crum said. "That is their business decision, and we respect, as we would with any client, their choice of location for their meetings."

Stephanie Pace Brown, executive director of the Asheville Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the Kellogg cancellation is not the first for Asheville and Buncombe County since HB2 passed into law.

"We're monitoring impacts, and so far we are aware of seven cancellations, including this one," Brown said. "The total revenue of the other six is about $200,000, so obviously this one has more impact."

Most of the cancellations involved business groups, although one was a wedding, Brown said. The CVB also has received "a little over 30 emails from individual visitors letting us know they are changing their plans to visit Asheville," Brown said.

As the CVB is a quasi-governmental organization, it has not taken a position on HB2. The organization is monitoring cancellations and providing information to interested parties, including the state, Brown said.

"We continue to emphasize to these (visiting) groups that Asheville is the same welcoming, accepting community it has always been, and that 25,000 people here who depend on tourism for their livings are committed to giving visitors the same great experience they've always provided," Brown said.

Founded in 1930 as an independent, private foundation by breakfast cereal pioneer Will Keith Kellogg, the Kellogg Foundation is among the largest philanthropic foundations in the United States. On its website, the foundation states it is "guided by the belief that all children should have an equal opportunity to thrive."

In the future, the foundation said its conferences will only "be held in communities where policies and practices are inclusive, and protections against discrimination are upheld for all people."

"Policies that deny any member of a community equal rights under the law do not reflect the values of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation," the foundation said. "These actions are counter to our belief that all children deserve to live in families where they and their parents have equal rights and opportunities to thrive."

Jones, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina, said the foundation did not make its decision lightly. Its new initiative is geared toward justice for everyone, and holding a conference in North Carolina at this time seemed incongruous with that.

With that in mind, the foundation decided that "North Carolina is not the best place to take a conference on how best to move the country forward," Jones said.

Earlier this month, Kit Cramer, president and CEO of the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce, said the CEO of a company looking to bring 500 jobs to Buncombe County conveyed that "they will not invest another dime in North Carolina until HB2 is addressed."

As the chamber represents 1,800 business with a diversity of viewpoints, it is not a partisan or political organization, Cramer said. She also said in a statement to chamber members that HB2 is a complex law and touches on a several issues that impact business, and North Carolinians are split on the law.

"But there is one element of HB2 that we should all agree upon: Discrimination, in any form, is not acceptable, and it’s bad for business," Cramer said. "It’s not acceptable in Asheville. It’s not acceptable in Western North Carolina and it’s not acceptable in our state. Any hint of discrimination should be scrubbed from the law. The very fabric of who we are as a community is tolerant."