Singer Lizzo took the stage in Omaha, Nebraska on Friday to voice her disapproval of a recently passed bill supported by the GOP, which encompasses a 12-week abortion ban and denies gender-affirming care to transgender youth.
Coinciding with the legislative success of the bill, Lizzo chose her Omaha performance as a platform to assert her beliefs. Prior to launching into a critique of the legislation, she made it clear that anyone attending her shows should understand her stance on the rights to comprehensive healthcare, reproductive care, and gender-affirming care.
The emotional singer expressed her dismay at the fact that young individuals are growing up in a world that fails to safeguard their rights. With a heartfelt plea, she assured her audience that her concert would serve as a safe space for them.
You can watch the moment in the video below.
Lizzo said:
“There’s times I get very political and as adults we feel it but there’s children here tonight. And it really breaks my heart that there are young people growing up in a world that doesn’t protect them."
“So let me be your safe space tonight. Don’t let anybody tell you who you are. Don’t let any laws tell you who you’re not, b***h. ... You are who you are, OK?” ...
“You deserve to be here in every form. You contain multitudes. These laws are not real. You are what’s real and you deserve to be protected. You deserve to be protected. And for anyone whose inner child needed to hear that, you deserve to be protected, too.”
The bill's passage in Nebraska aligns with recent restrictive abortion bans approved by Republicans in North Carolina and South Carolina. Meanwhile, GOP officials in Florida, Texas, Missouri, and Montana persist in their efforts to impede gender-affirming care within their respective states.
Notably, some Nebraska lawmakers were in attendance at Lizzo's concert, including state Senators Megan Hunt, an Independent, and John Fredrickson, a Democrat.
Fredrickson, who is openly gay, expressed gratitude to Lizzo for "giving Nebraska what it needed tonight."
Hunt—who is openly bisexual and the mother of a transgender son—took to Twitter to expose the incongruity of legislators seeking LGBTQ+ money, entertainment, and culture while failing to support and protect LGBTQ+ lives and safety.
Others have praised Lizzo for speaking out.
Lizzo had previously spoken out against drag bans in the state of Tennessee.
Last month, far-right pundit Matt Walsh was one of the prominent Republicans who called for the singer to be "thrown in jail" for inviting drag performers to join her on stage at a Knoxville performance.
Lizzo invited several drag queens, including Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Asia O'Hara, and Kandy Muse from RuPaul's Drag Race to perform with her at the Thompson-Boling Arena.
