We’re here in Black Mountain, NC, where this morning I came across this inclusive sign, which reminded me that while North Carolina is (rightfully) receiving a lot of negative press for the abomination that is HB2 (“the bathroom law”), there are huge swaths of North Carolina that are incredibly progressive. Unfortunately, billionaire reactionaries like Art Pope have sunk tens of millions of dollars into effectively buying and remaking the state legislature in their image, giving those outside the state the impression that North Carolina is monolithically regressive vis a vis civil rights. I’m here to tell you that there are tens of thousands of people fighting the good fight for equality IN North Carolina, and they are deserving of our support. With that in mind, I’ll be donating my concert fee this evening to the LGBT Center of Raleigh, whose suicide hotline has seen a huge spike in calls since the passage of HB2.