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GLAAD urges music industry to speak out against pending anti-LGBT bills in Tennessee

musicians asked to stand up for LGBT rights in Tennessee

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(Screenshot via YouTube)

(Screenshot via YouTube)

GLAAD held a press conference in Nashville on Monday calling for the music industry to speak against the pending anti-LGBT bills in Tennessee.

Tennessee’s pending LGBT discriminatory bills include HB 1840, which would allow counselors to refuse mental health services to LGBT patients, and the HB 2414 Bill, which would prevent transgender youth in grades kindergarten through 12th grade and transgender college students from using bathrooms that match their gender identity.

“There is no doubt that these anti-LGBT bills will jeopardize this state’s economy,” GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said during the press conference. “Nashville is America’s music capital, and the companies, artists, and allied businesses here alone contribute more than $9.7 billion dollars to this state’s economy. I am here today to call on the music industry to stand with us, alongside television networks and film studios who stood with us in Georgia, in a united front against discrimination.”

Actor and singer Chris Carmack, who plays a gay country singer on the ABC show “Nashville,” says the damage done by these bills could be irreparable.

“This kind of unnecessary discrimination has no place in this city or the state of Tennessee,” Carmack, who is a D.C. local, said. “It could take years to undo the economic damage done by these potential laws; but let me be clear, the human damage can never be repaired. Our young people only get one chance to grow up in a state that values and accepts them for who they are. Let’s not take that away from them. It’s important for those who can make a difference in my industry to stand up. Let their words be heard. Let their actions be seen. Please join me in making sure these laws doesn’t become a reality in our state.

Miley Cyrus, Ty Herndon and Chely Wright have also spoken out against the bills.

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