In this Monday, April 11, 2016 photo, actor Chris Carmack, from the ABC series "Nashville," left, speaks at a news conference calling on the country music industry to take a stand against proposed laws in Tennessee that LGBT activists see as discriminatory, as Sarah Kate Ellis, left, president and CEO of GLAAD, looks on, in Nashville, Tenn. While a few artists and songwriters have spoken out, many music businesses in Nashville have remained quiet on the issue thus far. Photo: (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

In this Monday, April 11, 2016 photo, actor Chris Carmack, from the ABC series "Nashville," left, speaks at a news conference calling on the country music industry to take a stand against proposed laws in Tennessee that LGBT activists see as discriminatory, as Sarah Kate Ellis, left, president and CEO of GLAAD, looks on, in Nashville, Tenn. While a few artists and songwriters have spoken out, many music businesses in Nashville have remained quiet on the issue thus far. Photo: (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Several country music artists and songwriters have condemned proposed laws that critics say discriminate against LGBT people, but anyone looking for reaction from the record labels and production companies on Nashville’s Music Row has heard only the sound of silence.

New laws in North Carolina and Mississippi have drawn the ire of businesses and celebrities alike, with Bruce Springsteen and Bryan Adams canceling shows in those states. Legislation dealing with the treatment of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people was vetoed by Georgia’s governor, but bills are still being considered in Tennessee and South Carolina.

Numerous artists with ties to Nashville have denounced the proposals here, which would ban transgender people from using restrooms that don’t conform to their sex at birth and would allow counselors to refuse services to LGBT people on religious grounds. Among them: Emmylou Harris, Billy Ray Cyrus and his pop star daughter Miley Cyrus, and actor Chris Carmack of ABC’s “Nashville.”

Gretchen Peters, a singer songwriter who has written hits like Martina McBride’s “Independence Day,” said the bills being considered in Tennessee are deeply personal to her as the mother of a 31-year-old transgender man.

“The people who are at risk are people like my son who would really be called out publicly, and anyone who is a trans person knows that can escalate into a really dangerous situation,” she said. “I live in fear of that as a mother.”

Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD, one of the LGBT organizations pressuring the country music industry, said the support of the artists is important. But she said the industry’s top companies need to speak out.

“It’s not a game they have been in before, but it’s going to have a big impact on their city so I think they are right now educating themselves on what the topics are and what the issues are,” Ellis said.

Numerous record labels — Universal Music Group Nashville, Warner Music Nashville, Sony Music Nashville, Curb Records or Big Machine Label Group — would not comment on the issue when asked by The Associated Press. Their silence underscores a divide between the creative class of artists who can use their platform to speak out and an industry that must be careful about taking a position.

That resistance to speak out might not be entirely based on concerns about losing their audience, said Diane Pecknold, an associate professor in women’s and gender studies at the University of Louisville and co-editor of the book, A Boy Named Sue: Gender and Country Music.

Contemporary country music fans are far more diverse than the stereotype of conservative, rural and blue-collar workers, Pecknold said.

“I don’t think they are afraid of their audience because the artists that have come out in favor of LGBT rights have not suffered in any way,” Pecknold said. However, she said, the industry may be reluctant to alienate politicians or political groups they rely on to help with business-related legislation.