US rock bands Pearl Jam and Boston have canceled shows in North Carolina over a new state law they call discriminatory against transgender people, the groups said on Monday. The cancellations make the bands the latest entertainment acts to take a stance against the measure, known as House Bill 2. 'The HB2 law that was recently passed is a despicable piece of legislation that encourages discrimination against an entire group of American citizens,' Pearl Jam, a pioneering grunge rock group, said in a handwritten statement posted on its Facebook page. Pearl Jam had a Wednesday concert scheduled in Raleigh. Boston, which had its greatest success in the 1970s and 1980s, had been set for three shows next month in the state.
