Add Eddie Vedder and Duke University leadership to the list of people opposing the North Carolina’s controversial HB2 bathroom bill, which mandates that people in public buildings use the bathroom that matches the sex listed on their birth certificates.
Opponents say the legislation discriminates against transgender people.
On Monday, Duke’s top officials including president Richard Brodhead said the law has already damaged the state’s reputation both in this country and abroad and has had an “economic and material impact” on universities and other institutions.
“Scholars from states and municipalities that have imposed bans on government travel to North Carolina have been unable to travel to Duke to continue ongoing research,” said Brodhead.
The state of Connecticut and the city of Boston are among the states and cities have cut government-subsidized travel to North Carolina, citing the law.
Bank of America Blasts North Carolina Bathroom Law
And in a notice posted Monday, Pearl Jam said it was cancelling a Raleigh concert scheduled for April 20. That follows in the footsteps of Bruce Springsteen’s cancellation of a show earlier this month, also citing North Carolina’s new and controversial HB2 “bathroom law.”
Vedder followed the post with an impassioned speech about the North Carolina law.
The Pearl Jam statement characterized the law as “a despicable piece of legislation that encourages discrimination against an entire group of American Citizens.”
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Industry titans including Apple (AAPL), Bank of America (BAC), IBM (IBM), and Salesforce (CRM), have likewise slammed the law, which has also been contested by the state’s branch of the ACLU and other groups.