Eddie Vedder Gives Powerful Speech In Protest Of North Carolina’s Anti-Trans Law [Video]

Many people are upset with the HB2 “bathroom bill” passed by North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, which forces people to use public bathrooms that coincide with the gender they were born with. Some say this law openly discriminates against transgender individuals, who do not identify with the sex on their birth certificate. In protest of the bill, many performers including Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, and Bryan Adams have pulled their business from North Carolina and cancelled concerts. Pearl Jam was the latest band to do so, as previously reported by the Inquisitr.

Shortly after announcing that Pearl Jam wouldn’t be playing in Raleigh, North Carolina, frontman Eddie Vedder gave a powerful speech explaining the band’s decision to support transgender people. According to Rolling Stone, Eddie Vedder addressed thousands of fans in Hampton, Virginia, on Monday and received a mixed response.

“We had to make a real tough call about what we would do about the situation in North Carolina,” Eddie Vedder began. “Because they have a law there that broadly discriminates against a whole group of people.”

As soon as Vedder mentioned the controversial “bathroom bill,” many members of the audience started to boo. It wasn’t clear to Eddie Vedder if the crowd was upset with the decision to cancel the Pearl Jam concert, or if they were upset with the anti-trans law. In either case, Eddie Vedder was patient and understanding.

“I can’t tell from here if you are booing North Carolina, if you’re booing us for having to decide that we are not gonna play there,” Vedder said. “I would understand that too.”

Amidst the increasing number of concerts being cancelled in support of transgender rights, Eddie Vedder was the first to acknowledge that there are many people in North Carolina who also oppose the “bathroom bill.” He expressed his regret in having to disappoint them, because originally Pearl Jam wanted to go through with the concert simply for the benefit of the people picketing Pat McCrory’s law.

“It was a hard process because we thought we could still play and make things right and we could fortify all the people on the ground working to repeal this despicable law… but the reality is there is nothing like the immense power of boycotting and putting a strain and it’s a shame because people are going to affected that don’t deserve it but it could be the way that ultimately is gonna affect change, so again, we just couldn’t find it in ourselves in good conscience to cross a picket line when there was a movement.”

While it’s difficult to tell what percentage of North Carolina residents support the HB2 law, Eddie Vedder assumed many of the locals probably disagree with it. Polls show North Carolina residents are actually fairly conflicted over the issue. And since Pearl Jam couldn’t play a North Carolina concert in support of transgender people, they dedicated a song to the LGBT community from Virginia.

“We apologize to the locals who probably believe in the same things that we do,” Eddie Vedder said. “But we gotta be pissed off at the right people and get them to change their minds because they made a mistake, a big mistake and they can fix it. So tonight we play this one for all the soldiers in the LGBT community.”

But boycotting North Carolina is not the only thing Pearl Jam and Eddie Vedder are doing to support transgender people with this issue. According to Fox 8 News, since Eddie Vedder originally wanted to play the concert exclusively for citizens of North Carolina who were trying to get the HB2 law repealed, Pearl Jam has decided to provide those activists with some extra money to accomplish their goal.

“We have communicated with local groups and will be providing them with funds to help facilitate progress on this issue,” said Pearl Jam. “In the meantime we will be watching with hope and waiting in line for a time when we can return.”

You can watch Eddie Vedder give the entire powerful speech in the video at the top of the page.

Do you agree with Eddie Vedder and support Pearl Jam’s decision to cancel their North Carolina concert?

[Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Global Citizen]