trans
Canadian singer-songwriter Bells Larsen is cancelling his forthcoming U.S. tour after the Trump administration made it impossible for him to travel in the country as a trans man.
In a lengthy post to his Instagram on Friday (April 11), Larsen revealed that, according to an email from the American Federation of Musicians (AFM), he would not be able to apply for a travel visa to the United States since his Canadian passport designates his gender rather than his biological sex.
“To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and have an M on my passport), I can’t tour in the States,” Larsen wrote. “I hesitate to include a ‘right now’ or an ‘anymore’ at the end of my previous sentence, because — in this sociopolitical climate — I truly don’t know which phrasing holds more truth.”
Trending on Billboard
Billboard has reached out to the AFM for comment.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigrant Services (USCIS) announced at the beginning of April that they had updated their policy at the outset of April to only recognize biological sex on immigration forms, in accordance with the Trump administration’s executive order requiring travel documents (including passports and visas) to designate a person’s sex as assigned at birth.
In his post, Larsen admits that he was already feeling trepidatious about touring the U.S. amidst an onslaught of anti-trans initiatives being pursued by the current administration, especially when it came to the administration’s treatment of trans people crossing the border. “If random people are getting randomly questioned/stopped/detained at borders, how can I — as someone wanting to make money abroad by exhibiting my lived experience as a trans person — expect to pass go and get out of jail free?” he asked. “My plan was to tour with harm reduction in mind.”
Larsen said that after speaking with two separate immigration lawyers and the AFM, he decided that there was “no way to move forward” with his scheduled tour, despite his eagerness to see his U.S. fans. “This new policy has crushed my dreams,” he wrote. “I’m cradling a very broken heart and the realization that I don’t know if or when I will be able to tour in the States again.”
The singer-songwriter was set to bring his forthcoming new album Blurring Time stateside this June, with dates in Boston, New York City and Los Angeles throughout the month. The new LP deals extensively with Larsen’s experience transitioning while using vocal recordings from both before and after his transition (his “high” and “low” voices, as he calls them in a statement) to create harmonies between his former and current self. The latest single from that album, “Might,” was released on Wednesday (April 9).
“I was hoping that the album would help me break into the US music market and connect with cool, likeminded American musicians,” he wrote. “More than anything, thought, I just really wanted to perform my album for queer and trans people in the US who saw their stories reflected in my own.”
Bells Larsen’s new album Blurring Time drops on April 25 via Royal Mountain Records. Read his full statement on his cancelled U.S. tour below:
With Monday (March 31) marking the annual International Transgender Day of Visibility, pop superstar Madonna took a moment to celebrate the community with a post to her social media. Sharing a series of photos from a fundraising fashion show she attended over the weekend to her Instagram account — including a photo with trans model […]
03/31/2025
For International Transgender Day of Visibility, Billboard asked trans and nonbinary stars about how they’re moving two steps forward while political progress takes one step back.
03/31/2025
As a vocal advocate and ally to the LGBTQ+ community, Dolly Parton has made a point to call for inclusivity and acceptance throughout her career. Now, she’s speaking out once again to defend transgender people being targeted by state-level laws. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Thursday (Nov. 2), Parton was […]
08/25/2023
With healthcare for trasgender kids becoming a hot political topic in the last few years, a number of stars have spoken up either for or against it.
08/25/2023
While Grimes and Elon Musk may not be a couple anymore, the pair still co-parent their two children (X and Y) — which means they still have to have tough conversations every now and then. Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news In an interview with Wired on Tuesday, […]
Ne-Yo may have issued a public apology on Sunday (Aug. 6) for making “insensitive and offensive” comments about the trans community, but the singer is taking that apology back.
In a video shared to his Instagram on Monday (Aug. 7), the “So Sick” singer said that he won’t “apologize for having an opinion.” Claiming that the original apology came from his “publicist’s computer” instead of from himself, Ne-Yo said that he wanted his fans to know how he actually felt.
“My intention is never to offend anybody,” he said. “However, I’m entitled to feel how I feel, the same way you are entitled to feel how you feel. I ain’t ask nobody to follow me, I ain’t ask nobody to agree with me; I was asked a question and I answered the d–n question.”
Ne-Yo went on to further dig his heels in on the topic of gender-affirming care for minors. While he said he has “no beef” with queer and trans folks, he will “never be OK with allowing a child to make a decision that detrimental to their life,” referring to medical treatment for trans youth. “I will definitely be educating myself a little bit more on this matter,” he said. “However, I doubt that there is any book anywhere or any opinion that somebody’s gonna tell me that’s gonna make me OK with letting a child make a decision like that.”
Closing out his video, the singer said that he’s not concerned about backlash to his comments anymore. “If I get canceled for this, then you know what, maybe this is a world where they don’t need a Ne-Yo no more,” he said. “Live how you wanna live, love how you wanna love, but your opinion is yours.”
Billboard has reached out to Ne-Yo’s representatives for further comment.
In the caption for the clip, Ne-Yo wrote that he “WILL NOT BE BULLIED INTO APOLOGIZING FOR HAVING AN OPINION,” and offered up a hypothetical scenario to demonstrate his point. “If one of my 7 kids were to decide that he or she wanted to be something other than what they were born as, once they’re old enough and mature enough to make that decision…so be it,” he wrote. “Not gonna love em’ any less. Daddy is still Daddy and he loves you regardless. But this isn’t even a discussion until they are MENTALLY MATURE ENOUGH to have such a discussion.”
The controversy started on Saturday (Aug. 5), when Ne-Yo sat for an interview with Gloria Velez of VladTV and spoke at length about gender-affirming care for kids. “If your little boy comes to you and says, ‘Daddy, I want to be a girl.’ And you just let him rock with that? He’s 5 … If you let this 5-year-old boy decide to eat candy all day, he’s gonna do that,” he said. “When did it become a good idea to let a 5-year-old, let a 6-year-old, let a 12-year-old make a life-changing decision for themself? When did that happen?”
The rapper’s statements mirror claims made by anti-trans legislators, claiming that children shouldn’t have access to the “irreversible” treatments of gender-affirming care by outlawing it across multiple states. However, experts say that most medical interventions for trans minors — including puberty blockers, speech therapy, gender-affirming hormone treatment and more — are not permanent.
Additionally, medical research groups including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pedatrics and the American Psychological Association have all developed guidelines for practitioners on how to best administer gender-affirming care. Each organization agrees that gender-affirming care is not only safe for minors, but in many cases it is vital for their health and well-being.
A day after his interview, an apology was published on Ne-Yo’s X account (formerly known as Twitter), stating that he has “always been an advocate for love and inclusivity in the LGBTQI+ community,” and underscoring that “my comments could’ve been interpreted as insensitive and offensive.” The post ended by saying that the “Miss Independent” singer would “better educate myself on the topic, so I can approach future conversations with more empathy.”
Check out Ne-Yo’s full Instagram video below:
After months of online hate over a single can of beer, trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney is calling out Anheuser-Busch for a lack of support.
In a video posted to her Instagram on Thursday (June 29), Mulvaney detailed her experience with the transphobic backlash she received after posting a promotional video for Bud Light back in April. “What transpired from that video was more bullying and transphobia than I could have ever imagined,” Mulvaney said. “I should have made this video months ago, but I didn’t.”
Part of the reason Mulvaney waited to talk about her experience publicly was because she was waiting for Anheuser-Busch to get in touch with her and offer support — but according to Mulvaney, the brand never reached out.
“For a company to hire a trans person and then not publicly stand by them is worse than not hiring a trans person at all,” a teary-eyed Mulvaney said into the camera. “It gives customers permission to be as transphobic and hateful as they want. And the hate doesn’t end with me. It has serious and grave consequences for the rest of our community. And we’re customers too. I know a lot of trans and queer people who love beer.”
After Mulvaney posted her promotional video for Bud Light, in which the company sent her a commemorative can bearing her likeness, conservative commentators and celebrities lashed out at the company for working with a trans person. Artists like Kid Rock, John Rich, Ted Nugent and many more called for a boycott of the brand. As a result, Bud Light fell from its position as the top-selling beer in America earlier this month.
Mulvaney’s video comes one day after Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth appeared on CBS This Morning to address the Bud Light boycott that occurred following the influencer’s original collaboration. While Whitworth claimed that the company would “continue to support” the LGBTQ community, he dodged questions about whether or not the promotion with Mulvaney was a mistake, and signaled that the brand would shift back toward “what we do best, which is brewing great beer.”
For Mulvaney, Whitworth’s statement wasn’t enough, especially after she spent months feeling “scared” to leave her home, being followed in public, and feeling “a loneliness that I wouldn’t wish on anyone.” Her existence, she pointed out, is not a matter of opinion or belief.
“To turn a blind eye and pretend everything is OK — it just isn’t an option right now,” she said. “And you might say, ‘But Dylan, I don’t want to get political.’ Babe, supporting trans people, it shouldn’t be political. There should be nothing controversial or divisive about working with us.”
Check out Mulvaney’s full video below:
As the “culture wars” around basic human rights for trans people continues, Kiss singer-guitarist Paul Stanley is sharing his thoughts on best-practice medical care for minors.
In a tweet on Sunday (April 30) titled “My Thoughts On What I’m Seeing,” Stanley wrote that he is concerned about children being given access to gender-affirming care. “There is a BIG difference between teaching acceptance and normalizing and even encouraging participation in a lifestyle that confuses young children into questioning their sexual identification,” he wrote.
He added that adults “may decide reassignment is their needed choice,” but said that children should not be eligible for gender-affirming surgeries and procedures. “Turning this into a game or parents normalizing it as some sort of natural alternative or believing that because a little boy likes to play dress up in his sister’s clothes or a girl in her brother’s, we should lead them steps further down a path that’s far from the innocence of what they are doing,” he wrote.
Both the Endocrine Society and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health do not recommend gender-affirming surgical intervention before 18 years of age, unless the patient, their doctor and a mental health professional all agree that intervention is necessary.
Closing his statement, Stanley claimed that too many parents were confusing “teaching acceptance with normalizing and encouraging a situation that has been a struggle for those truly affected and have turned it into a sad and dangerous trend.”
Billboard has reached out to Stanley’s representatives for further comment from the guitarist and other members of Kiss.
The guitarist’s claims are part of an ongoing misinformation campaign regarding gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Multiple states have banned gender-affirming care for minors, claiming that “irreversible” healthcare affecting one’s gender shouldn’t be an option for those under the age of 18 — though some legislatures in Texas, Kansas and elsewhere have begun quietly attempting to raise that minimum age to 26.
While these claims about “irreversible” procedures are common, the facts show that they are largely false. In an interview with Billboard last year, Dr. Joshua D. Safer, MD, explained that the kind of surgeries many of these right-wing lawmakers and Stanley are concerned about are already “typically reserved for adults,” with only extraordinary cases requiring more immediate intervention. “Prior to any gender-affirming medical or surgical intervention, all minors must have an intake with a knowledgeable mental health provider internal to our system. Once deemed ready for a medical/surgical intervention, the processes we have for adults are then brought into play,” he said.
Stanley’s statement is also directly refuted by every major medical organization in the U.S., including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Psychological Association, all of whom agree that gender-affirming care is not only not dangerous for trans youth, but in most cases, highly beneficial and life-saving.
Read Stanley’s full statement below:
As conservative country stars such as John Rich and Travis Tritt continue their calls for a boycott of Bud Light, Anheuser-Busch CEO Brendan Whitworth has responded to the ongoing controversy on Friday (April 14).
In a statement posted to the company’s official Instagram page and Twitter account, Whitworth said that he felt a responsibility toward making sure “every consumer feels proud of the beer we brew,” pointing to Anheuser-Busch’s history of support for “our communities, military, first responders, sports fans and hard-working Americans everywhere.”
In regards to the ongoing backlash, Whitworth clarified the company’s objectives as a brand: “We never intended to be part of a discussion that divides people,” he wrote. “We are in the business of bringing people together over a beer.”
Conservative backlash to the brand began when transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney participated in a branded partnership with Bud Light, advertising its Easy Carry Contest across her social media accounts, in which she thanked the company for sending her a can of the beer with her face emblazoned on the side.
In response to Mulvaney’s video, artists including Kid Rock and Ted Nugent began speaking out against the brand, with Tritt and Rich starting their own respective boycotts of all Anheuser-Busch products.
Whitworth never directly referenced Mulvaney, Tritt, Rich, or the boycotts themselves in his statement. Instead, he focused on “the importance of accountability and the values upon which America was founded: freedom, hard work and respect for one another,” while also adding that he as CEO would focus more on “protecting [Anheuser-Busch’s] remarkable history and heritage.”
Closing his official statement, Whitworth said that he would “continue to work tirelessly to bring great beers to consumers across the nation.”
Check out Brendan Whitworth’s full statement below.