Bryan Adams and #stop1523

Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi over the state’s new religious liberty law. And with good reason.

The law will offer protection for Christians who adhere to traditional views of marriage and gender roles and will allow private businesses and religious groups to refuse service to anyone who they deem in violation of their “sincerely held religious beliefs and moral convictions”.

Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant signed HB1523 into law on the fifth of April amid opposition from equal rights groups and businesses.

The Canadian singer-songwriter issued a statement on his website saying that he couldn’t “in good conscience” perform in the state. He was due to play the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Thursday. He added that he found it “incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against”.

Bruce Springsteen has also cancelled a concert in the last week in protest of North Carolina’s rollback on gay and transgender peoples’ protection.

The law in Mississippi will take effect from the first of July.

#stop1523