Singer-Songwriter Says ‘I Stand in Solidarity With All My LGBT Friends to Repeal This Extremely Discriminatory Bill’
Bryan Adams has just canceled his Mississippi concert scheduled for April 14 at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, citing Governor Phil Bryant‘s sweeping anti-gay law HB 1523.Â
“I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi. I cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation,” the Canadian singer-songwriter and humanitarian said in statements posted to his official website, Facebook and Instagram.
“Using my voice I stand in solidarity with all my LGBT friends to repeal this extremely discriminatory bill. Hopefully Mississippi will right itself and I can come back and perform for all of my many fans. I look forward to that day,” Adams wrote, adding the hashtag “#‎stop1523.”
HB 1523 is the most extensive and broad anti-LGBT “religious freedom” bill signed into law this year. Called the “Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act,” the bill “protects” the “sincerely held religious beliefs or moral convictions” of those who think marriage “is or should be recognized as the union of one man and one woman,” and that sex is only acceptable within “such a marriage.”
It also attacks transgender people by offering this statement:
“Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an 23 individual’s immutable biological sex as objectively determined by 24 anatomy and genetics at time of birth.”
Again, the bill is vast and is a veritable “get out of jail free” card for nearly anyone citing their religious beliefs to deny service to anyone else.
Last week, Bruce Springsteen canceled his concert in North Carolina in protest of that state’s recent anti-LGBT law.
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Image by Derek Hatfield via Flickr and a CC license
Hat tip: Metro
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