Bryan Adams Cancels Miss. Concert Over Anti-LGBT Law

Canadian rocker Bryan Adams, best known for his song "(Everything I Do) I Do It for You," is canceling a show in Mississippi to protest the state's new pro-discrimination law targeting LGBT people.

In a Facebook post Sunday and a message on his official website, Adams announced that his Thursday show, which was to be held at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, would no longer be happening due to the "extremely discriminatory bill."

House Bill 1523 will take effect in July and allows businesses, individuals, and religiously affiliated organizations to deny service to LGBT people and others who somehow offend an individual's "sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction."

It also directly targets transgender residents, effectively claiming that one's sex assigned at birth is immutable and will be the only gender recognized by the state.

Critics of the Mississippi law have called it the most anti-LGBT legislation in the nation, while supporters say it is necessary to protect the free expression of religion, especially by those who oppose marriage equality, sex outside of marriage, and transgender rights.

In canceling the show, Adams encouraged fans to stand up against the discriminatory legislation:

Since the passage of the law, the state has faced backlash from businesses, tourists and former state residents, including out Good Morning America news anchor Robin Roberts, who appears on the cover of the state's 2016 official tourism guide.

Adams, whose newest album is Get Up, joins rocker Bruce Springsteen in standing up for LGBT rights. Springsteen recently canceled an upcoming show in North Carolina to protest a law in that state which struck down all local LGBT-inclusive antidiscrimination ordinances and barred transgender people from using the restrooms and locker rooms in public buildings that comport with their gender identity.