Canadian musicians Bells Larsen and T. Thomason are cancelling planned performances in the United States in the wake of U.S. president Donald Trump’s anti-trans immigration policies.
In a social media post last week, Larsen announced he was cancelling the U.S. leg of his upcoming album release tour, due to being unable to secure a visa. Larsen said that he was told by the American Federation of Musicians in an email that his visa to travel to the U.S. for his upcoming tour would not be processed because his passport differs from his assigned sex at birth.
In a video shared to Instagram, Thomason said that while he has a valid work visa for the U.S. through June, he would be cancelling his upcoming appearance at a Maine-based music festival out of concern for his safety.
U.S. president Donald Trump signed an executive order back in January requiring that travel documents, including passports and visas, only reflect a person’s “biological sex.” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services updated its policy last week to reflect that executive order.
Incidents of travellers from Canada and Europe being detained or turned away at the U.S. border have ramped up since Trump’s inauguration, including a Canadian woman on a work visa who spent 12 days in detention before returning home.
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