Maren Morris, Hayley Williams, and Hozier were just a few of the famous faces who showed up at Nashville’s “Love Rising” benefit, an event designed to protest a slate of new legislation in Tennessee that targets trans youth, drag performers, and the LGBTQ+ community at large. At the March 20 concert, which lasted for more than four hours, performers including Sheryl Crow and Brittany Howard played music and spoke out in support of the LGBTQ+ community and against transphobia, homophobia, and – as Hozier put it, per Variety – “political repression and suppression and artificially generated fear-mongering and scapegoating.”
On March 2, Tennessee became the first state to pass a ban on public drag shows, and at the same time Republican Gov. Bill Lee signed a bill that banned gender-affirming healthcare for youth in the state. Tennessee is the first state to pass an anti-drag bill, although according to a Feb. 5 report from NPR, at least eight others are trying to pass similar laws. Many have worried that the law, which bans “male or female impersonators,” is designed to punish all trans people in the state.
Unfortunately, other anti-trans laws are continuing to make their way through other state governments, including a bill in Oklahoma that would ban insurance coverage for gender-affirming care, according to The Oklahoman. And in that context, at Conservative Political Action Conference over the weekend, Daily Wire host Michael Knowles called for “transgenderism” to be “eradicated,” as reported by Rolling Stone.
In this climate, many LGBTQ+ celebs and their allies have been using their platforms to highlight the importance of protecting trans people. Pedro Pascal, Gabrielle Union, Jamie Lee Curtis, and LeBron James are just some of the other celebrities that have spoken out in support of trans rights in the wake of legal attacks against transgender people across the country. Ahead, these are celebrities who are speaking out against attacks on trans rights and to support trans people across the country.
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Maren Morris
At the “Love Rising” benefit concert, Morris opened up about taking her child backstage to meet some of the drag queens also performing at the event. “I brought my son here earlier today for soundcheck, and he’s turning 3 this week, and we got to go in the room where all the queens were getting ready and doing their makeup,” she said onstage, per Variety. “And he freaked out when he went in there because it’s just magic what drag queens do. There’s wigs everywhere, and the smell of hairspray and wig glue; there’s glitter; everyone’s in a good mood. It’s just like a room of love. And we went back to my dressing room and my son is like, ‘I need the queens!’ I’m like, uh, you’re looking at her?” she continued. “. . .Yes I introduced my son to some drag queens today. So Tennessee, f*cking arrest me.”
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Hayley Williams
Williams also performed at the “Love Rising” benefit, and voiced her support for trans and gender-nonconforming folks while also expressing her disappointment in the state of Tennessee.
“I imagine if you’re a drag performer in this town – skilled, talented, creative, amazing – I can’t help but think that all of them wake up some mornings and are like, ‘Why the fuck did I shave my legs for this?’ You know? So here’s a Deana Carter song,” she said in the preamble to a cover of Deana Carter’s “Did I Shave My Legs For This?”
She also opened up about her complicated relationship to her home state and her love for Nashville. “When I moved here to Tennessee, it was 10 days before I turned 13,” she said, per Variety. “My mom and I fled a pretty traumatic situation in my hometown in Mississippi, and Tennessee and Franklin in 2001 were a refuge for us. It genuinely saved my mom’s life. It changed the course of my life,” she said. “. . .I have plenty to say about Nashville right now that might not be so positive. But to start, I wanted to play this song. There are good people here that are trying to continue to make this a good place to live. You are them. . .I don’t want to be a preacher, but I wanted to say first off that the creative community, the artists, the people that I’ve met here, many of who are part of the LGBTQ community, have changed my life and made me a better person.”
She later went on to address Tennessee’s new anti-drag legislation. “What they’re doing with this anti-drag bill, and how really it actually is also just a distraction from all these other horrible things that they’re trying to pass here, it feels like we’re in a relationship with our city and our state that’s all-give, no-get,” she said.
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Sheryl Crow
Crow also graced the stage at the “Love Rising” event, where she performed her song “Every Day Is a Winding Road.”
“This song is 30 years old, and it’s strange how it just kind of rewrites its meaning all the time,” she said. “Sometimes I do feel like a stranger in my own life, when I’ve got to explain to my little boys that some of us don’t get to live like we want to live, because it just doesn’t line up with somebody’s political (agenda).”
She also shared that her song “Hard to Make a Stand” was inspired by a trans person who she knew from a coffee shop. “She was very friendly – she would hand out flowers, but everyone was afraid of her. This was an unusual thing to see 30 years ago, and the patrons complained. And so I came in one morning and I said, where’s that lovely woman? She actually reminded me of my grandmother. And the owner said, ‘The patrons complained, and so we asked her to maybe not frequent us quite so often.’ And the next morning she slipped a note under the door that said, ‘If I’m not here, you’re not here,’ and signed it, ‘Miss Creation'” – as reflected in the sometimes obscure verses of the classic tune,” she continued. “And so I wrote a song about her. And this was during the same week that a young woman went to an abortion clinic in Texas and they shot her outside the abortion clinic. Now, this is 30 years ago, and these are the very things that we are still talking about. We’ve come a hell of a long way, and I’m happy about that. And we’re addressing people living their truths and how one person’s freedom is not compromised if we are all living our truth.”
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Hozier
One of the biggest performers at the “Love Rising” benefit was Hozier. “As you know, I don’t hail from here in Tennessee, I’m from Ireland,” he said. “But the (Irish) revolutionary James Connolly once said that no revolutionary movement is complete without its political expression. And I feel just for me, there’s so many elements of queer culture that are at times no less than revolutionary. In a time of political repression and suppression and artificially generated fear-mongering and scapegoating, I feel that just telling the truth of who you are and being who you are and standing up for that and expressing that is a very revolutionary act and a necessary act.”
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LeBron James
LeBron James retweeted a viral video of Jon Stewart interviewing Oklahoma State Sen. Nathan Dahm about restrictions on drag shows. “Are you infringing on that [drag] performer’s free speech?” Stewart asked in the clip.
“They can continue to exercise their free speech,” Dahm replied. “Just not in front of a child. . . . Because the government does have a responsibility… in certain instances, to protect children.”
“What’s the leading cause of death amongst children in this country?” Stewart asked. “I’m going to give you a hint: It’s not drag show readings to children.”
James wrote alongside it, “AT ITS HIGHEST ORDER!!” with an emoji saluting Stewart. Laverne Cox shared the same video on her Instagram as well.
Getty / VALERIE MACON / AFP
Pedro Pascal
On March 5, Pascal posted photos of LGBTQ+ flags, including the trans pride flag. He wrote in the caption, “The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind. #LGBTQIA.”
His “The Last of Us” costar Bella Ramsey, who is genderfluid, commented on the photo with a row of hearts and trans and pride flags. Pascal’s “Game of Thrones” costar Sophie Turner also commented with hearts.
On his Instagram Story, the actor shared the viral clip of Jon Stewart questioning the banning of drag shows, and on March 6 he also posted an infographic about legal attacks against trans people.
Pascal has long been vocal about supporting LGBTQ+ rights. His younger sister Lux Pascal is trans.
Getty / CHRIS DELMAS / AFP
Jamie Lee Curtis
Jamie Lee Curtis wrote on Instagram on March 5, “I STAND WITH THE TRANS COMMUNITY. THE MISSINFORMATION CAMPAIGN MUST BE STOPPED!” She continued, “It is absolutely F*CKED witnessing the ongoing normalization of eliminationist transphobia. The right’s war on queer people, most specifically trans people, is both bizarre and abhorrent. There is no debate to argue here. Trans people have been here forever and aren’t going anywhere. There is no ideology here. It’s simple. Trans rights are human rights. Anything stating the contrary is wrong.” Curtis also shared a screenshot of Pascal’s post saying “Trans rights” on Twitter in 2020. Curtis’s daughter Ruby Guest is trans.
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Ben Platt
On March 5, Ben Platt shared a graphic of the trans flag on his Instagram Story and wrote, “queer bros & sisters for trans rights!!! Jews for trans rights!!!!!! straight dudes for trans rights!!!!!! cis women for trans rights!!!!! librarians for trans rights!!!!! baristas for trans rights!!!! ALL HUMANS FOR TRANS (human) RIGHTS!!!!!”
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Gabrielle Union
Gabrielle Union and her husband Dwyane Wade have been very vocal about LGBTQ+ rights, in part because of their daughter Zaya, who is trans. Union spoke to Variety on March 4 at the Independent Spirit Awards.
“There is an army that rebukes you, that does not agree with you and that will not lie down while this fascist rule is instituted,” she said about the law in Tennessee. “And that’s just one state. There are several states who were doing the same thing, and they will be met with resistance. People are not going to take this lying down. They’re just not. So if you thought this was going to be a cakewalk, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
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Beanie Feldstein
Beanie Feldstein shared an infographic from Protect Trans Health TN with action items for people from out of state to take to align themselves with trans people in the state.
Getty / Gilbert Flores
Melissa McCarthy
On March 6, McCarthy shared an Instagram graphic with photos of stars in drag, including Robin Williams as “Mrs. Doubtfire.” “You’ve been entertained by drag your whole life,” read the text at the center of the graphic. “Don’t act like it’s a problem now.”
