Bruce Springsteen has cancelled a concert in North Carolina in protest over a law that critics say discriminates against transgender people.
The 66-year-old said he was calling off Sunday's performance in Greensboro "to show solidarity for those freedom fighters" who oppose the legislation.
The HB2 law requires transgender people to use public bathrooms that match their birth gender.
"Some things are more important than a rock show and this fight against prejudice and bigotry is one of them," said the Born in the USA singer in a statement on Twitter.
Earlier this week, PayPal dropped plans to build a new operations centre which would have employed some 400 skilled workers in North Carolina because of the law.
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s April 10th show is canceled. Tickets will be refunded at point of purchase. https://t.co/YahXTKffvV
— Bruce Springsteen (@springsteen) April 8, 2016
North Carolina's Republican Governor Pat McCrory signed the measure on 23 March.
It overturned a Charlotte city ordinance that allowed transgender people to use public toilets that matched their gender identities.
State Republican lawmakers warned the "radical" Charlotte measure would have allowed predators to enter women's bathrooms.
The statehouse's legislation quashed Charlotte's ordinance and prevented similar rules being passed by any city or county in the state.
Critics decried the governor's move as an attack on the LGBT community.
Google, Apple, IBM and American Airlines are among several companies to also condemn the law.
It is one of a series of socially conservative measures that has been passed or considered by Republican state lawmakers recently.
Tennessee is proposing similar legislation to the North Carolina law.
Mississippi provoked outcry this week by enacting a "religious freedom" law that allows businesses to refuse service to gay couples.
Missouri is also considering a religious liberties bill, but governors in Georgia and South Dakota have vetoed such proposals.
More follows...
0 nhận xét:
Đăng nhận xét