The UK’s Foreign Office has issued warnings to LGBT travellers planning to visit Mississippi and North Carolina following the introductions of anti-gay legislation across both states.

“The US is an extremely diverse society and attitudes towards LGBT people differ hugely across the country,” reads the post on the government website. “LGBT travellers may be affected by legislation passed recently in the states of North Carolina and Mississippi.

“Before travelling please read our general travel advice for the LGBT community. You can find more details on LGBT issues in the US on the website of the Human Rights Campaign.”

Bruce Springsteen, Cirque du Soleil and most recently Pearl Jam, have all cancelled planned perfomances in North Carolina as a result of the controversial ‘bathroom bill’ (HB2) which requires transgender people in government buildings and public schools to use bathrooms that match the gender on their birth certificates.

Paypal, Deutsche Bank, Hulu and a host of other businesses have also cancelled plans for expansion in the state after the law was signed by Governor Pat McCrory.

McCrory back-tracked slighly following the outcry against HB2, by allowing non-government businesses to set their own bathroom policies, though government buildings must continue to maintain a “common sense, gender-specific” policy.

In Mississippi, recent legislation signed by Governor Phil Bryant allows individuals, institutions and businesses to deny service to people if doing so would violate their religious beliefs on marriage and gender.

Signing the bill last month, Bryant said that the bill was intended to protect religious freedoms not to “limit any constitutionally protected rights or actions of any citizen of this state.”

Nissan, Toyota and MGM Resorts International, all major employers in Mississippi, raised concerns about the law and questioned the potential financial ramifications.

A similarly discriminatory ‘religious conscience’ bill proposed in Georgia was later vetoed by the state’s governor after Disney, Viacom and others threatened to abandon lucrative operations in the state if the bill passed.