Out singer Adam Lambert has praised
Bruce Springsteen's decision to cancel a North Carolina show over a
law that targets the LGBT community.
House Bill 2, approved last month
during a one-day special session, bars students attending public
institutions from using the bathroom that does not conform to their
gender at birth and blocks cities from enacting ordinances that
prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender
identity.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
was set to perform Sunday in Greensboro, but announced Friday that it
would not perform in North Carolina as a show of support for “freedom
fighters” working to overcome “these negative developments.”
“I'm not here to say what is wrong or
right,” Lambert
said in a video interview with NME. “I understand why
[Springsteen] would do it, especially if you are an artist with that
kind of clout and legacy. It's a great way to send a message of
support or rejection to legislation. It is too bad that those [laws]
are happening right now.”
“I think it's pretty badass that
[Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band] canceled their shows,” he
added. “I've been in a couple of circumstances like that and I'm
always trying to be sensitive to people's sensitivities. You have to
be careful but there's a real eloquent way to make statements about
that kind of stuff.”
(Related: Steven
Van Zandt: North Carolina cancellation about stopping spread of “evil
virus.”)
Lambert added that he was impressed
with recent comments Ellen
DeGeneres made in opposition to a similar law in Mississippi.