Elton John says America is going backward with 'disgraceful' anti-LGBTQ+ laws
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British singer Elton John has criticized anti-LGBTQ+ laws in the United States, saying "it's all going pear-shaped in America" and that he will no longer hold residencies there.
"We seem to be going backwards. And that spreads. It's like a virus that the LGBTQ+ movement is suffering," the Grammy-winning singer said in an interview with the U.K.'s Radio Times.
John, 76, singled out "laws enacted in Florida" as "disgraceful," adding: "It's a growing swell of anger and homophobia that's around America."
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a slate of new anti-LGBTQ+ laws this month which take effect July 1. Doctors will be allowed to deny patients care based on their moral beliefs and in public schools, while the use of preferred pronouns will be banned in public schools. A law that prohibits gender-affirming health care for transgender people under the age of 18 is already being enforced, The Washington Post reported earlier this month.
John has less than a month left of his "Farewell Yellow Brick Road" tour, the star's final farewell before he steps back from the limelight to spend more time with his family, including his sons, aged 10 and 12. The farewell tour was meant to end in 2021 but was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic and hip surgery he had in 2021.
The tour has so far taken John from Australia to New Zealand and the United States, for more than 300 concerts. He will finally hang up his sparkly captain's hat in Stockholm on July 3. John told the magazine he was ready to "be with his real family, not his work family" and feels lucky to have had such a lengthy and successful career.
John has previously held highly successful residencies at Las Vegas. However, he ruled out doing another residency in the United States in his Radio Times interview.
"I said when I announced the farewell tour that maybe I would do a residency like Kate Bush did," he said, referencing the singer's surprise residency in 2014, after years of no live shows, at London's Hammersmith Apollo. "But not in America. I will not do it in America," he said.
John's comments are a stark contrast to the praise he heaped on the country last September after he was awarded a surprise national humanities medal by President Biden, following a concert at the White House.
At that time, John praised "America's kindness to me as a musician," and said he was "honored" to receive the award.
More anti-LGBTQ+ bills passed into state law in the first four months of this year than at any other time in U.S. history, a Washington Post analysis earlier this year found. Many of these laws focused on transgender rights, and were signed into law either by Republican governors or GOP legislatures that overrode Democratic governors' vetoes.
The American Civil Liberties Union has tracked almost 500 anti-LGBTQ+ bills in states across the country so far this year, and notes that "while not all of these bills will become law, they all cause harm for LGBTQ+ people."
President Biden has described anti-transgender legislation in Florida as "close to sinful." In December, he also signed the Respect for Marriage Act, granting federal protections to same-sex and interracial couples, in response to the anti-LGBTQ+ legislation in many states.
DeSantis and his staff have dismissed the growing backlash, and has previously said the purpose of the laws is to "let our children be children."
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The Washington Post's Lori Rozsa, Hannah Sampson and Victoria Bisset contributed to this report.
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