Gay Rights Hypocrisy: Bryan Adams boycotts Mississippi, has no problem doing shows in Egypt

“I find it incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against in the state of Mississippi,” Adams wrote on Instagram. “I cannot in good conscience perform in a state where certain people are being denied their civil rights due to their sexual orientation.”

time.com...

For those who aren't already familiar with the story, Bryan Adams cancelled a concert supposedly due to the quote above regarding a new law in Mississippi.

I find it laughable, but hey he is sticking up for something he believes in right? Well, except that he apparently wears blinders and has no idea what actually being denied civil rights is. The kind that is widely publicized in the Middle East, in places such as Egypt where he just performed LAST MONTH. Hmmmm, seems odd. Then add to the list Bryan Adams has held concerts in Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, United Arab Emirates.

What's the scorecard for those countries on Gay Rights? Well, a hell of a lot worse than Mississippi (or North Carolina, for that matter).

Egypt
www.cnn.com...
www.theguardian.com...
www.pinknews.co.uk...
www.equaldex.com...

Syria:
www.smh.com.au...
www.washingtonpost.com... www.ibtimes.com...


UAE:
www.detainedindubai.org...#!homosexuality-in-the-uae/c233q
www.huffingtonpost.com...
www.care2.com...


So he looks like a huge hypocrite to the world. How does he justify any of this? How do people who actually care about the rights of gay view this? It would piss me off if it was something that I was passionate about.

a reply to: jjkenobi

I don't consider "we're better than them" to be a valid argument.

He has his beliefs, and I respect him for sticking to them.

We're all hypocrites in one way or another. Perhaps he thinks he actually has a chance of affecting the legal system here and knows that other country's laws are not our business...

In any case, I'd boycott a state because of their laws in my own country and would be less likely to try to affect change in other countries.

a reply to: Benevolent Heretic


But I thought adams was Canadian.

a reply to: jjkenobi

I see what you're saying and you make a good point. It's all about money and popularity. The LGBT thing in Mississippi is in the headlines at the moment, perhaps he hopes he too can get in the headlines by showing his support.

originally posted by: Bluntone22
a reply to: Benevolent Heretic


But I thought adams was Canadian.

/Drops mic

Bryan who?

Oh, you mean that guy that was relevant in the '80's?
Shouldn't he be playing state fairs and not rocking the Middle East?

a reply to: jjkenobi

Bryan Adams is a businessman. He has the right to ply his trade however and wherever he see's fit.

It's called capitalism....

You got a problem with that?

a reply to: jjkenobi

Of course, the major differences are that this is happening in the USA, a country which claims to be the "best country in the world", while being far behind most other Western nations.

It's also important to remember that Egypt has moved on massively in the last few years, with progress being made in Human rights.

In order to change the climate of a whole country you need to include that country in the international community, a state in a supposedly free western country is NOTHING LIKE an entire nation.

I entirely agree that principled performers should probably be boycotting any country not meeting basic standards of Human Rights and individual liberties, but your attempts to make this about him in an effort to defend bigoted laws in your own country adequately exposes your real motivations here.

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
We're all hypocrites in one way or another. Perhaps he thinks he actually has a chance of affecting the legal system here and knows that other country's laws are not our business...

In any case, I'd boycott a state because of their laws in my own country and would be less likely to try to affect change in other countries.

you know he's Canadian, right?

a reply to: ReprobateRaccoon

except he didnt,

personnely i think he didnt want to go to mississippi because it sucks there, so he used gays to get out of it

originally posted by: acackohfcc

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
We're all hypocrites in one way or another. Perhaps he thinks he actually has a chance of affecting the legal system here and knows that other country's laws are not our business...

In any case, I'd boycott a state because of their laws in my own country and would be less likely to try to affect change in other countries.

you know he's Canadian, right?

Hell, anyone younger than 30 probably doesn't even know who he is.
He had that song about liking boys in summer or something and some song from that awful Kevin Costner Robin Hood movie.
The guy is irrelevant.

I don't know do you consider hobby lobby as being hypocritical? I mean, they refused to provide insurance that covered birth control to their employers because of their deeply held belief, but then, they buy a good part of their inventory from chinese countries, and well china has a tendency of using those companies as arms of enforcement for the one child policy, which I guess is now two. but either way, it's quite possible that hobby lobby does business with companies that force women to have abortions..... and well they do this because they can get stuff cheaper, and have a HIGHER PROFIT MARGIN..

seems to me that Bryan Adams, whoever he is, is probably not making a profit by taking a stand but rather a loss of income...

so, who is more hypocritical in your opinion???

Islam is ok because it's not Christianity. They can stone as many gay people to death in the streets as they want, as long as it's not Christians doing it.

If they were, then of course it would be totally bad and we should boycott them.

a reply to: jjkenobi

Bryan Adams don't care enough about gay rights to lose money over it. He's just being politically correct so that his crowd doesn't disown him and he doesn't become a topic of the people ignorantly protesting MS's bill. He can go do a show in San Francisco, he's been out of style since the 90's anyways.

In a press release, Bryan Adams was quoted as saying, "Please forgive me, I know not what I do."

a reply to: jjkenobi

He shouldn't play in countries that do not protect the civil rights of all their people and are permissive of violence against gays (or anyone else and let's add Russia to that list too) AND he shouldn't play in Mississippi.

It's quite obvious that you're hoping to make a roundabout point in defense of Mississippi's farcical, disingenuous, regressive, pro-discrimination "religious freedom law" by invalidating protests against it but Bryan Adams's inconsistencies are irrelevant to the actual issue at hand.

Mississippi is a state in the greatest country on the planet. Shouldn't we be the setting an example for the backwards, illiberal societies of the world? If we can't get it right then what claim do we have to the moral high ground?

a reply to: olaru12

What's funny is how he's denying the rights of others while he attempts to fight the law supposedly denying the rights of others because he thinks it's unconstitutional.

a reply to: LSU0408

Ignorantly protesting? So are you saying that you promote the bill? How about this supporters of pro-discrimination legislation absurdly cloaked in false pretenses of "religious freedom" — why don't you try supporting it instead of invalidating the opposition with passive aggressive Internet forum rants?

a reply to: dawnstar

How much of a loss did he take by cancelling one show while playing others in anti-gay countries? This has nothing to do with Hobby Lobby not buying their employees birth control, oh the horror!