The festival is encouraging people to fight the injustice placed on immigrant travel, HB2 and more.

The ruling of the House Bill 2, The Public Facilities Privacy & Securities Act, in North Carolina eliminates anti-discrimination protection for members of the LGBTQ community from using bathrooms that do not match the gender they were born with. This ruling has been protested across most of the country’s states and has been stressed upon further after the current ban on immigrant travel from seven major Muslim counties.

Moogfest will be taking place in the month of May this year and this time around, they’re standing up for the people and denouncing the law. The North Carolina festival will also be hosting a Protest Stage in the light if this ban and are urging people to unite and fight discrimination.

Here are a few excerpts from the full statement:

(Credits: moogfest.com)

 

“Last March, North Carolina state legislature passed House Bill 2, a law that enables discrimination across gender, sexual orientation, and class. Specifically, the law eliminated past protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, stripped local government control over minimum wage, removed the right to sue for discrimination at the state level, restricted city councils ability to protect local residents from discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation, and barred transgender people from using bathrooms that do not match the gender they were born with.”

“Moogfest took an immediate stand against the law, reaffirmed our commitment to protest inequality, and offered a safe space for all artists, fans, and visitors who attended. This past December, despite the ongoing work of our community and our allies, lawmakers failed to repeal the law.”

“Now, as we prepare for the 2017 festival, we are faced with new and mounting concerns. Lawmakers in Texas and Kansas have taken steps toward enacting laws similar to HB2. And in his first few days in office, the 45th president has taken actions, such as the travel ban, that threaten our foundational beliefs and intimidate members of our diverse global network of thinkers and makers. But we are not afraid. We are not hateful. We are alive in our mission to bring the dream of a more equal society to all humans. We seek out facts, respect evidence-based science, and welcome a wide-open worldview. We believe this base of knowledge powers creativity, imagination, and innovation.”

“As said by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while behind bars for protesting in Birmingham, AL, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

“We are inspired by this movement and the spirit of those that came before it. The fight against inequality echoes our own mission to design radical instruments for change and reflects the legacy of Bob Moog, the inspiration behind Moogfest who believed that true innovation comes through collaboration, not exclusion. Moogfest is transformed, by the urgency of our times, and we invite you to keep marching with us into the future.”

Credits: facebook.com/Moogfest

The festival organisers have also urged supporters to write to the North Carolina politicians, fill forms for Equality NC and support the work of ACLU of the State.

The Protest Stage will be having installations, conversations, workshops and masterclasses to help everyone unite in this time of distress.

There has been some talk about the festival creating this setup as a part of their marketing scheme for the festival itself. Hopefully people show up for the right reason and for the love of the cause. The tickets for the festival are available here.