A growing number of transgender musicians have cancelled events in the U.S. over President Donald Trump’s transgender policies even as the U.K. Supreme Court rules that transgender women are not legally biological women.
Over the last few weeks, two Canadian singers have cancelled concert appearances in the U.S. claiming that they fear being “targeted” due to the president’s policies.
Last month, Halifax trans non-binary pop artist T. Thomason announced that he was pulling out of All Roads Festival in Belfast, Maine, scheduled for May 16, because he is upset over the Trump administration’s policy that the U.S. government will only recognize two sexes and said he has been hearing stories of discrimination.
“I just thought if that’s happening to cis people, I really feel worried about what could happen to me,” Thomason explained.
In a video posted to Instagram, Thomason said he cancelled his concert “because it doesn’t feel safe for me to go across the border into The States as a Canadian trans guy. I just don’t feel like it’s worth the risk.”
“This is really upsetting, obviously, and it has huge implications for all trans people from anywhere outside The States in any profession,” he said. “But in music specifically in Canada, it’s gonna have huge ripple effects.”
A second singer has also cancelled appearances. Toronto singer-songwriter Bells Larsen, who identifies as a trans man, cancelled six tour dates in the U.S. because she is upset over visa rules that limit applicants to choosing only male or female, according to Wired.
“I received an email on Tuesday from the American Federation of Musicians stating that I am no longer able to apply for a visa because U.S. Immigration now only recognizes identification that corresponds with one’s assigned sex at birth,” Larsen wrote on Instagram. “To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and have an M on my passport), I can’t tour in the States.”
Neither of these two performers seem to have made any comments about the U.K. Supreme Court’s decision that transgender women do not qualify as biological women for purposes of equality.
The country’s highest court issued its ruling on April 16 in response to rules in Scotland that forced the boards of corporations to have a 50/50 split in the genders of board members. The court’s rule maintains that a transgender woman does not count as a biological woman in such cases.
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