Selena Gomez is the latest celebrity to protest the anti-LGBTQ law - the Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act - passed in North Carolina earlier this year. The singer will donate some of her concert proceeds to a local LGBTQ organisation.
"I am very fortunate to have grown up in a home where I learned from an early age that everyone should be treated equally," the singer declared in a statement via entertainment website Just Jared. "I went back and forth on whether I should cancel my concert in North Carolina and ultimately I think what is right for me is to move forward with my show and donate a portion of the proceeds to Equality North Carolina and their effort to defeat this act of discrimination."
North Carolina's General Assembly recently passed a bill - commonly known as the HB2 bill - which will stop local governments from enacting anti-discrimination legislature intended to protect the LGBTQ community, including their right to use either bathroom based on which gender they use to identify.
"I've been reassured the venue I will be performing in has gender neutral bathrooms as I want everyone coming to my show to be welcomed," declared Gomez. "I feel like my generation is the most progressive one yet and believe there will be a day soon when laws like HB2 won't even be a consideration."
The artist Cyndi Lauper and the band Mumford & Sons donated their North Carolina tour proceeds to Equality North Carolina and a local LGBTQ organisation, respectively.
Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam, Ringo Starr, Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato cancelled their shows in North Carolina in protest at the HB2 bill.
Selena Gomez's Revival Tour is scheduled to arrive at North Carolina's Time Warner Cable Arena on Tuesday. The singer is scheduled to play Dublin's 3Arena on November 8 next.
