Here’s What Hollywood Has to Say About Recent Anti-LGBT Legislation

Stars like Bruce Springsteen, Melissa McCarthy, Ellen DeGeneres, and Billy Ray Cyrus have all spoken out against anti-LGBT laws. (Photos: Getty Images)

Both Mississippi and North Carolina are facing heavy criticism over new laws in each state which restrict the rights of their LGBT populations.

North Carolina’s HB 2, colloquially referred to as the “bathroom bill,” legally requires citizens to use the gendered public restroom which matches the sex listed on his or her birth certificate. The law, supposedly written to prevent potential sexual predators from using restrooms as their hunting grounds, specifically targets transgender people, who prefer to use restrooms corresponding to their gender identity.

In Mississippi, HB 1523, recently signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant, shields persons who refuse to provide services to LGBT people because of a religious opposition from punishment. It is state-sponsored discrimination.

LGBT celebrities were quick to criticize the laws. Former *N Syncer Lance Bass condemned Mississippi’s bill before it was even signed into law. “I’m disappointed in my home state of Mississippi for allowing this awful piece of legislation to hit the Senate floor. This is nothing more than religious homophobia as legislation,” Bass said in a statement. “Earlier this year, Mississippi lost Mercedes Williams, a 17-year-old trans girl murdered because she was trans. What is Mississippi’s Senate doing to protect the trans community? Instead of serving all of their constituents, Mississippi is prioritizing the sensitivities of the religious ‘wrong’ over the lives of LGBT people. I know Mississippi’s community is better than this. It is imperative that Governor Phil Bryant vetoes this bill immediately.”

On her show, Ellen DeGeneres said of the laws, “This is not politics. This is human rights.”

“If you’re in Mississippi or North Carolina or anywhere, and you’re saddened by the fact that people are judging you based on who you love, don’t lose hope,” DeGeneres, who grew up in Louisiana, which has flirted with passing a law similar to Mississippi’s, said. “I was fired for being gay, and I know what it feels like. I lost everything, but look at me now. I could buy that governor’s mansion, flip it and make a $7 million profit.”

But the backlash is not limited to words alone. North Carolinian Americana aficionados were disappointed to learn that The Boss would be skipping over their state, after he announced he was canceling a concert in Greensboro in protest of the state’s new anti-LGBT law. Accepting the Comedic Genius Award at the MTV Movie Awards over the weekend, Melissa McCarthy gave Springsteen a shout-out for taking a stance: “Just one more thing, just a little P.S.” she said at the end of her acceptance speech. “Who knew Bruce Springsteen could get even cooler? How about that?”

Springsteen isn’t the only act canceling dates in retaliation. Bryan Adams also canceled a scheduled date for this Thursday in Biloxi, Miss.

“I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi,” Adams said in a statement. “I cannot in good conscience perform in a State where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation. … 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.”

Joel McHale at his Durham show (Photo: Twitter)

While he didn’t cancel his show, Joel McHale did take a stance at a recent show in Durham, N.C. Wearing a shirt onto which he’d spelled “LGBTQ Durham” in gaffer’s tape, McHale announced: “What the f**k is wrong with your government here, guys?”

McHale said he’d considered canceling his show, but decided to go forward because Durham’s city council had openly opposed the state’s bathroom bill. McHale also announced he’d donate “every single dime I make tonight” to the LGBTQ Center of Durham.

America’s foremost advocate for free love and margaritas, Jimmy Buffett, has also slammed North Carolina’s law, but wrote that he’d still be performing in North Carolina.

“I played many shows years ago, in many states where you could go to prison for 20 years for smoking a joint. It was a stupid law based on stupid assumptions,” Buffett wrote on his official blog. “Time has fortunately reversed a lot of that way of thinking. But now another stupid law, based on stupid assumptions, has sprung up like kudzu in North Carolina.”

Buffett said his North Carolina shows would go on out of his “loyalty to fans there,” but did say he would not be coming back anytime soon: “[A]s for the future of shows in North Carolina, it would definitely depend on whether that stupid law is repealed.”

Interviewed by TMZ, Cyndi Lauper took a similar stance, saying she’d play North Carolina because, “wherever there’s people that don’t accept other people, the [unaccepted] people need you.”

Miley Cyrus has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights, but it was another member of the Cyrus clan that spoke out about these laws first.

“I would feel negligent to not speak up. In light of my good friend, Bryan Adams, taking a stand and my daughter having been on the ground floor of this movement, this issue is very important to me,” Billy Ray Cyrus wrote on Facebook. “As a friend and dad… I’ve witnessed this fight from the very beginning. I think everyone should be treated equal. We’ve come too far; we can’t mess this up.”

Laws like the ones in North Carolina are not isolated incidents. There are currently 14 bills up for vote in 9 different states which seek to restrict the rights of trans people. And 20 states in America have some version of a State Religious Freedom Restoration Act.