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Selena Gomez Doesn’t Follow The Crowd, Will Play North Carolina Show And Donate Proceeds To LGBT Group

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 05:38 PST, Jun 4, 2016

Selena Gomez says she thought long and hard over whether or not to cancel her upcoming Revival tour concert in Charlotte, North Carolina, over the controversial HB2 law, but the pop princess has decided to move forward with the show. In a statement to Billboard, Gomez said she plans to donate some of her North Carolina concert proceeds to a local LGBT group in lieu of disappointing her fans.

“I’m very fortunate to have grown up in a home where I learned from an early age that everyone should be treated equally,” Selena told 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.”

Equality North Carolina is a charity aimed at protecting the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people in the state. And Selena is looking out for concertgoers who need to use the facilities, too, promising that the “bathroom bill” policy won’t be enforced during the show.
“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,” Gomez said. “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.”

The highly controversial Public Facilities Privacy and Security Act (HB2) was signed into law by North Carolina politicians earlier this year. The law requires that transgender people must use gender-specific public restrooms based on their sex at birth, and it has been a point of contention for many artists who have canceled shows in the state.

While Selena Gomez has decided that the show must go on, several other artists have refused to play in North Carolina in protest of the recently passed “bathroom bill.” According to USA Today, a slew of big-name acts have canceled concerts in the state, including Demi Lovato and Nick Jonas, Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Ringo Starr, and Bryan Adams. In addition, Cirque du Soleil recently canceled two if its touring show stops in North Carolina.

Selena Gomez has long supported the gay and transgender communities and her offer to donate to a LGBT charity in lieu of canceling the show is a win-win for her fans, who won’t have to pay the price for the lawmakers’ controversial decision. In a previous interview with Pridesource, Selena Gomez said she realized she had a gay following early on, so it’s no wonder the LGBT charity is one close to her heart.

“My first single was when I was 16 and that went to No. 1 on the Dance Club charts so that was my introduction,” Gomez said. “I don’t think people really knew me, so I don’t know if it was a following necessarily, but once I hit ‘Love You Like a Love Song’ status, that’s really when I started realizing it. And it was the best!”

Of how her concert fans have changed since her days as a Disney Channel star, Selena said she gets a kick out of seeing grown men in her audience.

“My concerts used to be little kids, and then seeing the entire front row being all these guys who were wearing neon T-shirts and just losing their minds – it’s incredible,” Selena said. “And then you see the jocks in the other corner throwing their boxers on stage. It’s like, ‘Oh gosh.’ It’s amazing… Taylor [Swift] and I literally will have mini dance parties with all of her dancers who are 100 percent gay and it’s the best feeling ever! It is so fun, and we just lose our minds.”

Selena Gomez will play in North Carolina on June 7 at the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

Take a look at the video below to see Selena Gomez performing her song “Same Old Love.”

[Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images]

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