Musicians Lady Gaga and Alicia Keys along with Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence are among more than 140 artists and celebrities condemning a Texas "bathroom bill" targeting transgender people.
Britney Spears and late-night host Jimmy Kimmel also signed a letter Tuesday criticizing the Republican-backed efforts as a "denial of basic human dignity."
The bill would require people to use bathrooms that correspond to the sex on their birth certificate.
It's similar to a North Carolina law that prompted rockers Pearl Jam and Bruce Springsteen to cancel concerts in that state last year.
The group Equality Texas, which circulated the letter, also got singer Natalie Maines – of The Dixie Chicks – and several other Texans to sign it.
"Equality Texas has done a great job of reaching out to Texas businesses to persuade them to oppose the bill," said board member Mark Phariss, of Plano. "Then they looked at that second prong and said, 'OK, now we need to reach out to artists.'"
"North Carolina, a much smaller state than Texas, lost a billion dollars worth of business simply because of their discriminatory bills," Phariss said. "And we're hoping to persuade the Texas legislature not to adopt something that's similar."
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The hospitality industry is also lining up against the bill, including the convention and visitors bureaus in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington and Irving.
"The Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureau opposes this legislation," writes President and CEO Bob Jamison. "A majority of meeting planners say they have already avoided destinations that have enacted these types of bathroom bills."
The Texas bill has yet to receive even a preliminary vote but public pressure is ratcheting up. Last week, the NFL suggested that Texas could be passed over for future Super Bowl sites if the proposal became law.
