Preach it, E!
Elton John is arguably the most famous gay musician in the world, so it’s about time for him to officially speak out against Gov. Pat McCrory and his beyond bigoted House Bill 2.
Luckily, the 69-year-old AIDS ambassador did just that in an open letter to North Carolina through The Hill on Tuesday where he not only defended his LGBT peers, but also offered suggestions on how to move forward!
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In his essay, the Can You Feel the Love Tonight singer first pointed out how discriminatory and dangerous the laws truly are, saying:
“What’s worse than the discriminatory bill itself, and the millions in taxpayer dollars McCrory is wasting to defend it, is that the governor signed it after admitting he had never met a transgender person. Although McCrory later walked his statement back, the message he sent was clear: the actual experiences of transgender people have no place in a debate over their basic rights.
It’s a message we hear far too often. This brand of ignorance deliberately shuts out the perspective of an already marginalized community. It’s dangerous, and it goes beyond bathrooms. As the father of two children, I would hope their world is free of discriminatory, hateful legislation like North Carolina’s.
Forcing transgender people to use the bathroom of a gender with which they don’t identify isn’t just inconvenient or impractical. For many, especially young students still grappling with their transition, it can be traumatic, and at worst, unsafe.”
We couldn’t have said it better ourselves!
But unlike the celebrities before him, Elton clearly did a little more research for his blog post, saying:
“To address these problems, our leaders must first acknowledge their existence, as well as the existence of the people affected. And yes, that starts with bathrooms.
Just a few weeks before McCrory signed his discriminatory bill, similar legislation in South Dakota took a very different turn. Gov. Dennis Daugaard, who also admitted he’d never met a trans person, had a change of heart about a discriminatory bill he’d originally supported. Why? He agreed to meet with transgender activists. He credited those meetings with giving him a new perspective. ‘I heard their personal stories,’ he said, ‘and I saw things through their eyes in that sense.’
McCrory and others who support these discriminatory bathroom bills need to reverse course, but moreover, they need a lesson in compassion. They need to recognize the existence of trans people, and they need to acknowledge that all people have a fundamental desire — and a fundamental right — to be treated fairly.”
Or we can just hold out until McCrory gets fired… whichever comes first.
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Celebs like Demi Lovato, Nick Jonas, Bruce Springsteen, and Cyndi Lauper have already done what they think is best to fix the anti-trans movement, but hopefully Elton will be the final push their crusade needs to really take off.
What do U think about Elton John’s analysis of House Bill 2??
[Image via Elton John/Instagram.]
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