Connecticut has become the first state to ban state-funded travel to Indiana in protest of its Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which was signed into law by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence last week. Gov. Dannel Malloy signed an executive order Monday afternoon, denouncing the act for being “disturbing, disgraceful and outright discriminatory” to the LGBTQ community.

“It’s our shared past where discrimination was codified into our laws,” Malloy said at a Monday press conference. “That system should remain in the history books and not be reborn in this country state by state.”

Indiana’s law enables individuals and businesses to make religious claims as part of their legal defense, extending these claims beyond just cases between individuals and the government.

The ban follows similar ones in place in Seattle, Wa., and San Francisco, Calif. Indiana’s RFRA has generated negative response from both governments and businesses alike — Pence appeared on national television in defense of the law last Sunday, citing a desire to defend the ability of state residents to exercise religious beliefs freely.

Malloy also told reporters that the order acknowledges any contractual obligations between the two states, while he hoped that University of Connecticut sports games — namely, basketball and football — against Indiana University would not be played in Indiana in light of the order.

MICHELLE LIU