One of the biggest names on Broadway is calling for artists, creators and producers to deny show rights to North Carolina until it repeals the controversial law that bans transgender people from using the bathroom of their choice.
Stephen Schwartz, who has written musicals such as “Pippin,” “Godspell” and “Wicked,” circulated an email this week calling for the theater industry to protest the law that many believe discriminates against the LGBT community, specifically transgender people.
Here is the full text of the email, per Broadway World:
To my fellow theatre writers and producers: As you no doubt know, the state of North Carolina has recently passed a reprehensible and discriminatory law. I feel that it is very important that any state that passes such a law suffer economic and cultural consequences, partly because it is deserved and partly to discourage other states from following suit.
Therefore, I and my collaborators are acting to deny the right to any theatre or organization based in North Carolina to produce any of our shows. We have informed our licensing organizations and touring producers of this, and I’m happy to say have met with compliance and approval from them.
In the 1970s, I, along with many other writers and artists, participated in a similar action against apartheid in South Africa, and as you know, this eventually proved to be very effective.
If you are in agreement, you may want to join me in refusing to license our properties to, or permit productions of our work by, theaters and organizations in North Carolina until this heinous legislation is repealed.
At least five Schwartz-composed musicals are slated to begin production in North Carolina over the next month, according to Raleigh-based newspaper Indy Week.
North Carolina has been under fire since Gov. Pat McCrory a week ago overturned a Charlotte anti-discrimination bill by signing into law an ordinance that requires transgender people to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with what is on their birth certificates.
Major businesses in North Carolina, such as Bank of America, Dow Chemical and PayPal, have voiced their opposition to the law.
The NBA has threatened to move the 2017 All-Star game out of Charlotte unless North Carolina gets rid of the law.
Earlier Friday, Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser banned district employees from taking official trips to the Tar Heel state. The states of New York, Connecticut and Vermont, as well as the cities of San Francisco, Seattle Boston and Portland, Ore., have issued similar decrees.
