Lizzo Slams Nebraska Bill Restricting Abortion, Gender-Affirming Care
Lizzo reminded Nebraska fans on Friday that they are “valid” and deserve protections as she slammed a GOP-supported bill that includes a 12-week abortion ban and bars trans youth from receiving gender-affirming care.
The “About Damn Time” singer made her remarks on the same day that state lawmakers passed the bill, which Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen (R) is expected to sign into law. A six-week abortion ban failed in the legislature late last month.
Lizzo, who was performing in Omaha, declared that anyone who comes to one of her shows “should know” she supports the rights to health care, reproductive care and gender-affirming care before launching into criticism of the bill.
“There’s times I get very political and as adults we feel it but there’s children here tonight. And it really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them,” Lizzo said as she got emotional.
“So let me be your safe space tonight,” she continued. “Don’t let anybody tell you who you are. Don’t let any laws tell you who you’re not, bitch. … You are who you are, OK?”
The Grammy-winning artist told her fans that she sees them and they are “valid.”
“You deserve to be here in every form. You contain multitudes,” she said. “These laws are not real. You are what’s real and you deserve to be protected. You deserve to be protected. And for anyone whose inner child needed to hear that, you deserve to be protected, too.”
Republicans also approved restrictive abortion bans in North Carolina and South Carolina last week.
GOP officials in Florida, Texas, Missouri and Montana have continued efforts to bar gender-affirming care in their states recently, as well.
Lizzo has made powerful statements on anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in the past, inviting drag performers onstage during a Knoxville show last month to protest Tennessee’s drag ban. There have been 490 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in the U.S. this year, according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s legislation tracker.
Some Nebraska lawmakers indicated they were in attendance at the show, including state Sens. Megan Hunt (I) and John Fredrickson (D).
“Thank you, @lizzo, for giving Nebraska what it needed tonight,” tweeted Frederickson, who is openly gay.
Hunt, who pledged to filibuster every bill for the rest of Nebraska’s legislative session over its anti-trans bill back in March, wrote on Twitter that state Sen. Beau Ballard (R) — who voted for the bill — was planning to be at Lizzo’s show.
“They want LGBTQ money. They want LGBTQ entertainment. They want LGBTQ culture. But at they won’t vote to protect LGBTQ lives and safety,” wrote Hunt, who is openly bisexual and has a trans son.
