North Carolina’s controversial Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act (HB2) requires people to use the designated bathroom of the sex assigned on their birth certificate. Several artists and companies have boycotted North Carolina in a show of support for the LGBTQ community that this bill alienates. Selena Gomez, who kicked off her Revival tour last month, is scheduled to play at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte tonight. After weighing her options, she decided to move forward with the concert but is still sending a message of support to the LGBTQ community. Not only did she confirm that the arena has gender neutral facilities, Selena will donate a portion of the concert’s proceeds to Equality North Carolina to assist in defeating HB2.

Selena Gomez isn’t canceling her upcoming Tuesday, June 7, show in North Carolina, but she’s taking a stand against the “bathroom bill” in a different way.

“I am fortunate to have grown up in a home where I learned from an early age that everyone should be treated equally,” the 23-year-old pop star said in a statement to Billboard. “I went back and forth on whether I should cancel my concert in North Carolina and ultimately I think what is right for me is to move forward with my show and donate a portion of the proceeds to Equality North Carolina and their effort to defeat this act of discrimination.”

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Gomez added that she and her team have done everything they can to ensure that they are promoting the anti-HB2 sentiments that so many of her fellow musicians have already espoused.

“I’ve been reassured the venue I will be performing in has gender neutral bathrooms as I want everyone coming to my show to be welcomed,” she continued. “I feel like my generation is the most progressive one yet and believe there will be a day soon when laws like HB2 won’t even be a consideration.”

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[From Us Magazine]

Joel McHale also donated proceeds from his scheduled performance to Durham’s LGBTQ Center as opposed to canceling his show. I believe Selena considered her decision carefully and took the action she felt would send a message. I appreciate that her public statement included the fact that she ensured the venue had gender-neutral bathrooms.

I want to acknowledge the commenters from North Carolina who have assured us that the archaic views behind HB2 and the governor that passed it do not represent everyone in the state; I believe you and feel your pain. However, I do want to see this bill struck down and support all forms of opposition to it; be it boycotts like Brice Springsteen’s or statements like Selena and Joel’s. Pressure grows from corporations as companies like PayPal and Hyatt and celebrities make good on their promise to pull out of NC. Financial institutions continue to fight the bill on their end. If the Human Rights Campaign can get the FAA to cut airport grants, this discriminatory bill might finally die on the vine, as it should.

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