Bruce Springsteen axes gig over transgender toilets

The star calls off the gig over a law requiring transgender people to use public bathrooms that match their birth gender.

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 and the E Street Band were 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 in Charlotte, which would have employed some 400 skilled workers, because of the law.

The state’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.

Critics decried the governor’s move as an attack on the LGBT community.

Google, Apple, IBM and American Airlines are among other companies that have condemned the law.

It is one of a series of socially conservative measures 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. SkyNews.com

Follow us on Twitter on @FingazLive and on Facebook – The Financial Gazette