Charles Barkley has added his voice to the debate about holding the NBA All-Star Game in a state hostile to the LGBT community, and he’s pushing for the league to move the event to a different location. North Carolina recently passed HB2. Here are the details behind the ugly law:

The North Carolina law created a mandatory statewide anti-discrimination policy, but it did not include specific protections based on sexual orientation or gender identity. The law prohibits transgender people from using public bathrooms that do not match the sexes on their birth certificates.

Barkley is advising the NBA to move the All-Star Game our of Charlotte, North Carolina. "I think the NBA should move the All-Star game from there next year," Barkley said. "You know, as a black person, I am against any form of discrimination, against whites, Hispanics, gays, lesbians. However, you want to phrase it. It is my job with the position of power that I am in, to be able to be on television, I am supposed to stand up for the people who can't stand up for themselves. So I think the NBA should move the game from Charlotte. .. I know Atlanta wants to host it. But they should move it out of Charlotte."

Barkley's message is more important than it seems. Why? Because there is a dirty little secret is the black community. I wrote about this when the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) failed in Houston, Texas.