In late March, North Carolina’s legislature called a special session and passed the now-infamous House Bill 2. The “bathroom bill” stipulates that people must use restrooms based on the sex listed on their birth certificate—discriminating against trans people—while also restricting the rights of state employees to sue for discrimination and of local municipalities to pass anti-discrimination legislation. Since HB 2 became a reality, companies have bailed on bringing jobs to the state, and Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen, Ani DiFranco, and more have canceled performances in protest of the bill.
On April 27, the Hopscotch Music Festival, based in the state’s capital of Raleigh, announced the first act for 2016’s iteration: Lavender Country, widely recognized as the first openly gay country band, will perform as a headliner on September 10. The announcement felt like a deliciously radical kiss-off to the hateful legislators in the North Carolina General Assembly responsible for HB 2. As LGBTQ communities continue to fight for equal rights, Lavender Country’s proud, defiant visibility matters as much today as it did in the early '70s, when the band was founded.
Lavender Country has enjoyed a second wind since the North Carolina-based label Paradise of Bachelors reissued their brilliant 1973 self-titled LP in 2014, and a documentary about the band—titled These Cocksucking Tears—won the prize for Best Documentary Short at this year’s SXSW film festival. But for frontman Patrick Haggerty, Lavender Country was just one of many projects in a life dedicated to activism. In Seattle, he’s fought for gay, lesbian, feminist, anti-apartheid, anti-racism, and socialist causes, among others. He discussed the Hopscotch show, and why a move like this still matters, 40+ years after Lavender Country was conceived.
Pitchfork: This Hopscotch performance had to have been in the works before the bill happened. Can you tell me a bit about how it came together?
Patrick Haggerty: They got a hold of me. I’m not exactly sure how that happened, but I imagine that Brendan [Greaves] from Paradise of Bachelors knows those people. They sent me a tentative e-mail about whether I would be interested, and it was like 48 hours before the legislation came down. Then they got a hold of me right away again, the next day, and said, “Well, shit happened, now we need you really bad. What’s it going to take?” Hopscotch did get a hold of me before the legislation was passed, but only by two or three days.
A lot of people have been canceling shows in North Carolina out of protest and solidarity. What made you not want to cancel the Hopscotch show? Did you even consider it?
Oh, no. Frankly, it’s a bit daunting, at 71, to go in and do a major show in this context, to all those people. And also, to expose myself. It’s not that I’m not thinking about all of that, because I am, but to not do the Hopscotch show under these conditions? Are you out of your mind? Of course I’m going to do the show. That’s how I see it.
I see it as problematic. I see myself as an old man trying to pull off a young man’s trick. I see problems with doing Lavender Country at Hopscotch in September for all of those reasons. But to back out? Oh, no, no, no, no. Oh, no, no, darling. That’s not what I do. I’m coming. I’m going to have fun, I can tell you that.
As we were setting this up, you mentioned that you understood why people wanted to boycott. Can you expand your thoughts on that?
Anybody like Bruce Springsteen, who wants to boycott North Carolina and not bring his music there because he doesn’t want people to make money off of him for those reasons, I’m behind him 100 percent. That’s fabulous. Bruce Springsteen and I doing a protest concert in Raleigh would also be fabulous. Both of those things can be done and can be done very successfully.
Nobody in their right mind would dream of Lavender Country performing at Hopscotch being anything other than a protest. I was thrilled when Springsteen boycotted. I thought it was wonderful. I think it would be wonderful if we did a protest concert, too.
Living in North Carolina, my life has felt saturated with HB 2 happenings. But being in Seattle, what’s your perception of all of this?
I think we’re going to be seeing some more of this from other states, and that this issue is going to gain some traction, and that we’re going to be fighting it some more. I also think this: That it’s a dying gasp, and that it’s not, in the end, going to work. But mostly, what I think is that having North Carolinians fight over who goes into what bathroom in the face of the destruction of the planet by capitalism and the multinationals—it’s so obviously a diversion to split the class.
That’s all it is, and that’s all it’s good for: to keep working class people in North Carolina fighting with one another. About the fucking bathroom, for God’s sake! While the planet falls apart around them.
On the subject of class, one thing that a lot of people also don’t realize the bill also affects the rights of workers. The distraction point is true—it’s not just about bathrooms, it’s about taking power from others, too.
Oh, yeah. It’s definitely connected. The thing that’s great about this is the level at which the class as a whole—you, the guys who are putting together Hopscotch, the guys that are doing Paradise of Bachelors, me, my husband—we all get this. We all know what’s going on at a level that we have not known before. The people in the music industry who are fighting back against the legislation—they don’t care who’s gay or who’s straight. Who cares? That’s not even the topic.
The last thing I’m going to ask the organizers of Hopscotch is who they slept with last night. I don’t give a shit. They don’t either. We don’t care anymore. The unity in the class that’s created these conditions at Hopscotch—there’s a bunch of straight white men who are on my team for what’s going on. They get it. They understand that we’re all under the gun here.
As someone who’s spent his whole life dedicated to activism, what are your thoughts on the fact that, 40-something years later, people are still fighting for some of the same rights?
The delivery of equal rights to everyone under capitalism isn’t possible. Capitalism demands an under class, and they’re going to get it, whether it’s from homosexuals, or from black people, or from women, or from immigrants. Somebody is going to be the underclass, and somebody’s going to rank-order us.
As the crisis of capitalism deepens, they’re going to pit us more stridently against one another for what little bit of rights we have left. That’s what we’re up against, and that’s what we’re fighting, and that’s why Hopscotch put Lavender Country up to the position they put it in. I get it. What’s thrilling to me is how many straight white men get it. They’re not going for the okey-doke, they’re digging their heels in and balking. A lot of straight, white, heterosexual men from the South are organizing this protest. Whoopee! You don’t know how that gladdens my heart. If you’re standing up for equal rights for everybody, then you’re on the ship. That’s what everybody’s getting, and that’s what’s refreshing to be a participant in at this stage in my life.
