Maren Morris, Sheryl Crow and More Set for Benefits Concert Amid Tennessee Anti-LGBTQ Laws

Carly Thomas

Fri, 10 March 2023 at 5:02 am GMT

Maren Morris and Sheryl Crow are among several artists who are set to participate in Love Rising, an upcoming benefit concert in Nashville to support Tennessee-based LGBTQ organizations amid anti-LGBTQ bills that have been passed in the state.

“Art & community are, and have always been, oppression’s medicine,” Morris wrote on Instagram Tuesday, with the concert poster. “Let’s show these politicians that they do not speak for all of Tennessee. Love will prevail.”

Jason Isbell, Hayley Williams, Brittany Howard, Julien Baker, Allison Russell, Brothers Osborne, Amanda Shires, Joy Oladokun, Yola, Jake Wesley Rogers, Mya Byrne and the Rainbow Coalition Band are also set to perform at the show, which will take place at Bridgestone Arena on March 20.

“Love is always more powerful than hate and fear,” Crow said on social media.

The organizations that the concert will support include Tennessee Equality Project, inclusion tennessee, OUTMemphis and The Tennessee Pride Chamber.

Since Tennessee recently passed two controversial anti-LGBTQ laws – one that prohibits gender-affirming care for minors and another that restricts drag queens from performing in public – Hollywood figures have taken to social media in protest.

On Wednesday, RuPaul, the face of the Drag Race franchise, shared his thoughts in an Instagram video, saying, “Hey, look over there! A classic distraction technique, distracting us away from the real issues that they were voted into office to focus on: jobs, healthcare, keeping our children safe from harm at their own school. But we know that bullies are incompetent at solving real issues. They look for easy targets so they can give the impression of being effective. They think our love, our light, our laughter and our joy are signs of weakness. But they’re wrong because that is our strength.”

RuPaul continued, “Drag queens are the Marines of the queer movement. Don’t get it twisted and don’t be distracted. Register to vote so we can get these stunt queens out of office and put some smart people with real solutions into government. And by the way, a social media post has never been as powerful as a registered vote.”

Longtime LGBTQ alley Cyndi Lauper also spoke out against the new laws, comparing the anti-LGBTQ bills to Nazi Germany. “Equality for everybody, or nobody’s really equal,” the singer told ITK according to The Hill. “This is how Hitler started … just weeding everybody out. … I don’t think it’s a good idea what they’re doing but, you know, you just have to keep fighting for civil rights.”

Melissa McCarthy shared a graphic on her Instagram, which read, “You’ve been entertained by drag your whole life. Don’t pretend it’s a problem now,” with photos of several iconic characters in drag. She added a caption to the post that said, “This.”

Tickets for Love Rising went on sale Wednesday.