Demi Lovato Just Made a Powerful Statement Onstage

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published 23 May 2016

During her performance of "Cool for the Summer" at Sunday night's Billboard Music Awards, Demi Lovato did way more than just get that song stuck in your head again. She made a big statement in support of transgender rights without saying a word.

She wore a shirt featuring a symbol used to denote gender-neutral bathrooms, a clear response to a law in North Carolina that forces people to use public restrooms based on their assigned genders at birth, not their gender identities. The law makes transgender people use restrooms they're not comfortable with, and even the federal government has called out North Carolina for violating residents' civil rights.

Demi Lovato wore this shirt for trans rights tonight, she's truly incredible. pic.twitter.com/5auVmZS0TkMay 23, 2016

This isn't the first time Demi has stood up for her transgender fans; she and Nick Jonas canceled their North Carolina concert in response to the law. According to GLAAD, Demi will sell replicas of the shirt during her tour, and the proceeds will go towards Equality NC and Time Out Youth, two LGBT organizations in North Carolina. Now that's a huge statement.

Watch the full performance here:

Megan Friedman is the former managing editor of the Newsroom at Hearst. She's worked at NBC and Time, and is a graduate of Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.