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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
Entertainment
Alaina Demopoulos

Trans musician Bells Larsen was forced to cancel his US tour: ‘My livelihood has been robbed’

a man lying on grass
Bells Larsen: ‘I feel overwhelmed by the degree to which my community is being completely dehumanized.’ Photograph: Lawrence Fafard

Bells Larsen knew that releasing a low-fi, folksy album about his transition as the Trump administration relentlessly attacked LGBTQ+ people would give it an inherently political edge. But the Canadian singer-songwriter did not expect to be caught in a bureaucratic nightmare while attempting to tour the US – and ultimately have to cancel that tour due to the gender marker in his passport.

On 12 April, Larsen announced on Instagram that he was pulling out of concerts to promote the album in eight cities this spring: “To put it super plainly, because I’m trans (and have an M on my passport), I can’t tour in the States,” he wrote.

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