mayor, Edwin Lee, has banned publicly-funded travel to North Carolina in response to the new bill

North Carolina legislators are receiving a multitude of backlash and criticism for signing what many have called 'the most anti-LGBT bill in the country', even from some Hollywood heavyweights.

When Harry Met Sally director, Rob Reiner, said he won't produce movies in North Carolina until 'this hateful law is repealed and LGBT North Carolinians are treated with the equal dignity they deserve'.

Reiner said that he 'will not film another production in North Carolina', until the law that bans cities from enacting their own anti-discrimination protections is done away with.

He also encouraged his colleagues in the entertainment industry 'to vow to do the same'.

Reiner, whose list of movies include A Few Good Men and Stand By Me, is among several entertainment professionals who say they won't do business in states that have passed discriminatory laws.

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Director Rob Reiner (left), said he won't produce movies in North Carolina until 'this hateful law is repealed'. Governor Pat McCrory (right) signed the House Bill 2 into law that allows businesses to discriminate against LGBT people

North Carolina legislators decided to rein in local governments by approving a bill on Wednesday that prevents cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules

In response to the North Carolina bill, Mayor Edwin Lee (pictured) has banned 'any publicly-funded city employee travel to the State of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety'

After Charlotte approved anti-discrimination measures that would have allowed transgender people to use bathrooms corresponding to their gender identity, the Republican-led legislature passed the bill.

And Gov Pat McCrory signed the House Bill 2 into law Wednesday.

The mayor of San Francisco has also taken matters into his own hands by banning city employees from traveling to the state after hearing that McCrory signed the bill into law.

Mayor Edwin Lee said in a statement that his city will stand united as 'San Franciscans to condemn North Carolina's new discriminatory law that turns back the clock on protecting the rights of all Americans including lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals,' according to The Blaze.

Let me be clear that San Francisco taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in any City or State. Mayor Edwin Lee

'Effective immediately, I am directing City Departments under my authority to bar any publicly-funded City employee travel to the State of North Carolina that is not absolutely essential to public health and safety,' he added.

Lee said with other states like Georgia close to passing discriminatory laws, 'let me be clear that San Francisco taxpayers will not subsidize legally-sanctioned discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in any City or State'.

And not only could the opposition to the law affect filming, but it may affect the sports industry as well.

ESPN had been considering North Carolina for the summer X Games but said in a statement that the organization embraces 'diversity and inclusion and will evaluate all of our options as we seek a new city for the X Games'.

The NBA also hinted that the 'discriminatory law' could affect the planned 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte, as the organization is 'dedicated to creating an inclusive environment for all who attend our games and events'.

The Charlotte Hornets basketball team and Carolina Hurricanes both reaffirmed their opposition to all forms of discrimination in statements.

The NCAA, which is scheduled to hold men's basketball tournament games in Greensboro in 2017 and Charlotte in 2018, said it takes diversity into account when it chooses its event sites.

Lee said his city will stand united against North Carolina's new discriminatory law by banning publicly-funded travel to the state

The NBA said the 'discriminatory law' runs counter to its values and that it could affect the planned 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte. The Charlotte Hornets basketball team and Carolina Hurricanes both reaffirmed their opposition to all forms of discrimination

Duke student Sydney Roberts shouts during a protest against House Bill 2 on Thursday outside of the Governor's Mansion on North Blount Street in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina

Georgia is also a top destination for movie and television production.

AMC, which films The Walking Dead in Georgia, implied it would cease shooting there if the bill becomes law, according to MSNBC.

Disney and Netflix said they wouldn't film there if the legislation is passed.

Civil rights groups, LGBTQ advocates, and several corporations have all expressed extreme disappointment after the decision.

The legislature called a special session Wednesday to void a Charlotte ordinance that would have enabled transgender people to legally use restrooms aligned with their gender identity instead of biological sex, and would have provided broad protections against discrimination in public accommodations in the state's largest city.

The controversial House Bill 2 now prevents the state's cities and counties from passing their own anti-discrimination rules and instead imposes a statewide standard that leaves out sexual orientation and gender identity.

The law orders public schools, government agencies and public college campuses to designate use of multiple-occupancy bathrooms and changing facilities, such as locker rooms, by biological sex stated on a person's birth certificate.

Transgender people can use the bathrooms and changing facilities corresponding with their gender identity only if they get the biological sex on their birth certificate changed, according to ABC News.

North Carolina is the first state to require public school and university students to use only those bathrooms that match the biological sex written on their birth certificates, according to the National Conference on State Legislatures.

American Airlines, which operates its second-largest hub in Charlotte; IBM and Biogen, which have facilities in the state's Research Triangle; and payments processor PayPal, which had announced plans to hire 400 people in Charlotte only last week, were among major employers condemning the new law on Thursday.

The economic impact will take time to quantify. There were no immediate threats to withdraw business from the state, which has seen booming growth and an influx of 'knowledge workers' in Charlotte and Raleigh, even as rural towns lag behind economically.

Other businesses have voiced support for the measure McCrory signed into law, a spokesman for his re-election campaign said.

Spokesman Ricky Diaz did not respond when asked which businesses backed the governor's decision.

About 200 protesters blocked a downtown Raleigh street in front of the state's Executive Mansion Thursday evening.

Police said in a statement that five people were arrested after they sat down in the street and refused orders to disperse.

Advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights say the law demonizes them with bogus claims about bathroom risks. Demonstrators outside the NC Executive Mansion in Raleigh

Rajiv Soni, left, and Amara Perez, right, clap and shout as a car driving by honks during a protest against House Bill 2 on Thursday

The five people were charged with blocking traffic and with resisting, delaying or obstructing police officers, Jim Sughrue, a spokesman for the Raleigh Police Department said in a statement.

Four of the protesters were from Durham - Jade Brooks, 30; Salma Mirza, 28; Ngoe Tran, 20; and Jessica Jude, 27. The fifth protester was Noah Rubin-Blose, 32, of Hillsborough.

McCrory, a former Charlotte mayor, stays in the mansion while in the state capital but was not there at the time of the protest, spokesman Josh Ellis said.

Demonstrators like Alex Berkman complained that lawmakers acted quickly before Charlotte's example could be adopted by other communities.

'The way that these things work is that one place will pass a law and then another place will pass a law and then we start to build momentum,' said Berkman, 29, of Raleigh.

Democrats warned that North Carolina risks losing billions in federal education dollars by conflicting with Title IX anti-discrimination regulations that apply in public schools. Republican lawmakers downplayed the threat Wednesday.

Several businesses have criticized the measure Republican Gov Pat McCrory signed into law late Wednesday

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton criticized North Carolina's new law on Twitter saying 'LGBT people should be protected'

Supporters say the new law protects all people from having to share bathrooms with people who make them feel unsafe.

Advocates for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights say it demonizes them with bogus claims about bathroom risks.

'The disappointment, anger and fear many are feeling today is beyond words. What's worse is this will likely not be our last defeat,' Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin wrote in an online column Thursday.

Bathroom use has proved to be a potent wedge issue across the country since Houston's anti-discrimination law was overwhelmingly voted down in a referendum last year, but LGBTQ advocates have had some victories, too.

South Dakota's legislature failed to override Gov Dennis Daugaard's veto of a bill requiring students to use bathrooms corresponding to their birth gender, and a similar bill in Tennessee bill died on Tuesday.

The LGBTQ movement won't likely table the bathroom issue to focus on other areas of discrimination, said Katherine Franke, a Columbia university law professor and director of the school's Gender and Sexuality Law center.

'The issues of discrimination and violence against transgender people in the context of bathrooms are so overwhelming, that to them it is a cutting-edge problem,' she said. 'Overwhelmingly, it's transgender people who are the victims of violence in the bathroom setting. ... This is a basic human need.'

Instead, advocates will likely try to win more acceptance from society about transgender people and their particular challenges, said Dru Levasseur, director of Transgender Rights Project at the civil rights group Lambda Legal.

'The LGBT movement is right now focusing its efforts on educating people about who transgender people are, and that is the antidote to this battle,' Levasseur said.

The issue won't likely go away as North Carolina's Democratic Attorney General, Roy Cooper, tries to unseat McCrory in November.

Republicans see the law as protecting business owners who have a religious objection to gays and lesbians, and political differences with liberal local governments. Democrats see the law as proof that the GOP won't protect minorities.

But corporate America could tip the scale, said Michael Bitzer, political science professor at Catawba College in Salisbury, northeast of Charlotte.

'If businesses are starting to look at North Carolina and says this is not the environment we want to be in, that could have some blowback, and McCrory would be in the bull's-eye,' Bitzer said.

Thursday evening, state and national gay-rights advocates joined about 400 people at a Raleigh church to vow to fight on when the General Assembly reconvenes next month and in November at the ballot box to elect Cooper and throw out legislators who voted for the law.