While the annual Warped Tour has been considered for many years a "safe space" for punk and metal teens, the last few years have been marred by a bit of controversy. In 2014 and last year, there were accusations of sexual abuse which led to bands being banned from tour. This year, the controversy seems to be over one of the allowed vendors.
Several fans have taken to Twitter to complain about the inclusion of a conservative group called "Rock For Life," which is an anti-choice and sell "All Lives Matter" t-shirts, although its unclear if the t-shirts are meant to be against the Black Lives Matter movement, or implying that all lives, even pre-born ones matter. Here are the designs:
THEIR SHIRTS READ "ALL LIVES MATTER" THEIR LOGO IS A FETUS pic.twitter.com/JNdBiiaGif
— maria cristina sherman (@mariasherm) July 9, 2016
The item getting the most controversy is a sticker board that they display, where Warped Tour fans can mark at what point they believe a baby's life begins:
#Camden had this to say at #VansWarpedTour today about #humanrights. #rflsummer16 pic.twitter.com/HER1YLnEWY
— Rock For Life (@rockforlife) July 8, 2016
Today at #VansWarpedTour in #Wantagh people had this to say about #humanrights. #rflsummer16 pic.twitter.com/47e7vXQy4B
— Rock For Life (@rockforlife) July 9, 2016
The band Sorority Noise summed up the board nicely:
this is unreal, a women's right to chose reduced to a sticky note collage at warped tour https://t.co/Gv12IKNX6v
— Sorority Noise (@sororitynoise) July 9, 2016
Interestingly, Warped Tour did not at all advertise Rock For Life anywhere on their sites or their vendor lists. After a few sites picked up the story, tour founder Kevin Lyman responded to the criticisms:
Punk rock was about welcoming all points of view, you can make your own decisions, and opposing platforms and views are important.
— KevinLyman (@KevinLyman) July 11, 2016
If any Pro-Choice organizations are out there and would like to come have table @VansWarpedTour please contact us.
— KevinLyman (@KevinLyman) July 11, 2016
I commend Lyman for even addressing the topic, when most would ignore it, and for inviting pro choice groups onto the tour. Although, I can't imagine any group has the resources at this point to pick up and hop on a traveling festival at a moment's notice. The invitation should've been made before the tour, although I'm sure Lyman had bigger issues to consider at the time.
