Christina Aguilera slams Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ law at Brighton Pride
The 'Fighter' singer made a powerful statement during her performance on Saturday night.
Words: Alastair James; pictures: Attitude
Christina Aguilera made a powerful statement on Saturday (6 August) night as she slammed Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ law during her headline set.
As the ‘Beautiful’ singer’s backup dancers took to the stage holding signs reading ‘Say Gay’ the screen behind them lit up with text explaining the law, which took effect on 1 July this year.
.@xtina just used her headline set at @PrideBrighton to slam Florida’s ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law. 🏳️🌈#BrightonPride pic.twitter.com/yA034QIGAH
— Attitude Magazine (@AttitudeMag) August 6, 2022
As the text crawled up the crowd booed before cheering jubilantly when the final message, ‘Say Gay’ appeared. Images then appeared showing pride parades and the rainbow flag.
The dancers’ signs were then turned around to display the words ‘freedom’, ‘identity’, ‘peace’, ‘beauty’, and ‘unity’ which also appeared in large on the stage screen.
During her set, Xtina performed classic hits including ‘Genie in a Bottle’, ‘Dirty’ and closed it all off with her ode to self-love, ‘Beautiful’. As she sang her final song she was draped in a Progress Pride flag
The ‘Don’t Say Gay, Don’t Say Trans’ bill came into effect in Florida on 1 July. It effectively bans discussions of LGBTQ topics, including sexuality and gender identity, in schools for children aged 5-9 as well as teaching that is considered “not age-appropriate” for other students.
Officially called the Parental Rights in Education bill, proponents have argued it is in defence of parents’ rights, although it has been widely criticised as incredibly homophobic with fears it could lead to greater stigma, internalised homophobia, discrimination, and even higher rates of suicides.
The LGBTQ charity, The Trevor Project released a survey last year of more than 82,000 LGBTQ young people which revealed that only a third felt their home was an affirming place and only 50 per cent said their school was.
75 percent said they had experienced discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity at least once in their lifetime.
LGBTQ action groups have vowed to fight the bill which is already being replicated across the United States.
The Attitude September/October issue is out now.
