Stephen Schwartz is known throughout the Broadway world for musicals such as "Godspell," "Pippin," and "Wicked." Now, he is known throughout social media for a different reason: he is prohibiting all of his works from being produced in North Carolina until the new law is abolished.
For those of you who might not know what happened in North Carolina recently and its new law, I will fill you in. "In a single day, the governor and legislature of North Carolina unveiled, deliberated, passed, and signed into law a bill that activists have described as the most extreme anti-LGBT measure in the country — forcing transgender people into bathrooms that differ from their gender identity and disabling cities from creating laws protecting LGBT people.” (Washington Post) As a person who supports civil rights for everyone, this is not acceptable.
Because of this new law, many companies have decided to pull out of the state until this matter and law has been abolished. Some companies that are against this new law include Apple, Google, Facebook, Pandora Media, PepsiCo, YouTube, Starbucks, Yelp, and Microsoft. There are over a hundred more that are against this bill
. If this bill does not get repealed soon, then North Carolina will face not only a discrimination issue and an economic issue, but a cultural issue as well.On April 3, 2016, Stephen Schwartz wrote an email and made it public stating: “To my fellow theatre writers and producers: As you no doubt know, the state of North Carolina has recently passed a reprehensible and discriminatory law. I feel that it is very important that any state that passes such a law suffer economic and cultural consequences, partly because it is deserved and partly to discourage other states from following suit. Therefore, I and my collaborators are acting to deny the right to any theatre or organization based in North Carolina to produce any of our shows. We have informed our licensing organizations and touring producers of this, and I'm happy to say have met with compliance and approval from them”
(Playbill.com). The main reason why Schwartz wrote this is because he wants fellow writers and artists to join him on this ban because on past success with the destruction of Apartheid in South Africa.It is to be expected that many others will probably join Schwartz in banning their works in North Carolina. Hopefully, this will have a lasting impact in US history of how Broadway helped to abolish a law that is both heinous and discriminatory in nature. No one should have to go to the bathroom in a place where they do not identify with their gender.
