With anti-LGBTQ sentiment and a fear of continued gun violence seemingly on the rise throughout the state, Sabin says she’s found herself reaching for solutions. “When stuff like this happens, your first reaction is, ‘We need to get out of here,'” she says. “But in the last few weeks, I’ve really started to have a different attitude. This is a great community, this is a wonderful town with wonderful people. It’s got a lot of queer visibility.
“I think people are just afraid, and I understand why,” she says. “In terms of safety, what I can say is Music Biz is going to do the very best we can to make this a safe and welcoming conference for all of our members. But people have to make their own decisions at the end of the day if they want to come here or not.”
In the organization’s original statement, Music Biz said that “legislation like this threatens the safety of artists and others, and will force businesses to reconsider holding events in this state.” Sabin herself says that the Music Business Association has not ruled out relocating future conferences if conditions in the state don’t improve.
“I think that that is something that state legislatures need to take really seriously — when they have a thriving hospitality industry, a thriving conference industry, they have to think seriously about the laws that they make and how that’s gonna affect people who are coming in to their state and their cities,” she says. “But on the flip side, they’re passing horrendous laws everywhere as fast as they can.
But, Sabin says that eventually, enough is enough. “At some point, businesses and consumers have to start sending messages to legislatures,” she say. “‘Keep it up and you’re gonna lose our business.'”