It’s been less than a year since Taylor Swift came out of the political closet and endorsed a local Tennessee Democrat in the 2018 midterms. She also encouraged all of her fans to register to vote and GOTV on every Election Day. It was a much better move than continuing to stay silent and allowing her silence to be used as a de facto endorsement for Republican policies, racism and white supremacy. As of now, Taylor hasn’t talked much about race and racism, but she has been making moves to talk more about women’s rights and LGBTQ rights. Taylor decided to chime in once again for the start of Pride Month (June is Pride Month). Tay posted this to Twitter:
#lettertomysenator https://t.co/EKYMXZw5U9 pic.twitter.com/Ym0mGeOHgc
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 1, 2019
The first part is a letter to Sen Lamar Alexander, the senior Republican senator from Tennessee (where Taylor votes). She asks Sen. Alexander to protect LGBTQ rights in employment, housing, education and more by supporting the Equality Act. She writes in part: “For American citizens to be denied jobs or housing based on who they love or how they identify, in my opinion, is un-American and cruel.” She argues that protecting the LGBTQ community is actually good for the economy, and more businesses would come into Tennessee (like Amazon) if the Equality Act was passed. She also writes:
“I personally reject the President’s stance that his administration, ‘supports equal treatment of all,’ but that the Equality Act, ‘in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.’ No. One cannot take the position that one supports a community, while condemning it in the next breath as going against ‘conscience’ or ‘parental rights.’ That statement implies that there is something morally wrong with being anything other than heterosexual and cisgender, which is an incredibly harmful message to send to a nation full of healthy and loving families with same-sex, non-binary or transgender parents, sons or daughters.”
Wow. Props to Taylor. I’m sure some will nitpick and say she’s more of a bandwagoner when it comes to LGBTQ rights, but good lord, it’s important and significant for the LGBTQ community to have an ally of Taylor’s stature, and it’s also important and significant that she’s making the argument in this way. She’s arguing for local industry, state economics, and… the family values of supporting LGBTQ parents. It’s very powerful. She’s also putting a target on her back by specifically calling out Donald Trump.
In addition to that, Taylor has started a petition to get the Equality Act passed – you can see it here and sign on to it.
🌈Like a rainbow with all of the colors🌈
Thank you to everyone who came to Wango Tango! That was FUN 🥳 Ps a huge thank you to @brendonurie for surprising the crowd!!
📸: Rich Fury, Kevin Mazur, Jeff Kravitz, Wes and Alex // Getty Entertainment pic.twitter.com/dXWewgIUPv
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) June 2, 2019
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I REALLY appreciate that when Taylor talks political and social issues, she does her damn homework and writes intelligently about it. Props to her. She’s a powerful voice and I’m glad she’s finally using it for good.
yes absolutely. And being who she is, she likely won’t be as attacked as others are for that opinion, and she’s now using that earned power for good. No shade here, well done Taylor
“And being who she is, she likely won’t be as attacked as others are for that opinion,” This is often true in her case. We can see it even in things like fact that she has bisexual/lesbian ‘truthers’ (as seen below), among other things. But at least she’s using that pedestal she’s been placed on for good.
Good for her. I’ve gained a lot of respect for her since she went through the sexual assault trial 2 years ago.
I know a few “truthers” out there who believe Taylor is bisexual (the same people who were/are really into the Kaylor conspiracy from a few years back) and think that all of this is her ramping up to coming out.
Regardless of whether she is bisexual or just an LGBTQ ally, I am really proud of her for finally sicking her neck out and standing up politically, especially because she has such a young and impressionable fanbase who need to see their idols fighting for what’s right. I like her more and more all the time.
I’ve been thinking about this, too.
This is beautiful! Good for her !
Also off topic but the amount of love I have for Brendon Urie is kind of embarrassing.
I appreciate that she’s not just saying ‘I support LGBT rights,’ she’s publicizing an important piece of legislation coming before the Senate that’s unfortunately overshadowed by all the Mueller drama. She’s putting forward well reasoned arguments to explain why she believes what she does, she’s offering her letter as an example to her fans of how to contact your senators, and she is trying to get her fan base to mobilize on this issue with the hashtag encouraging them to write letters and then tweet about it. It’s all really mature and impressive IMO, and I admire her for the way she’s going about all of this.
Co-sign. She’s still a real life mean-girl but as with all humans she is not a one-note cartoon figure.
Yes! She has been very clear about what she thinks, her reasoning, and how her fans can help if they agree. I appreciate her approach to politics much more than if she was just saying – “vote for xyz.”
Also, I love that she specifically mentions the Trans community, which is often ignored. Really impressed by this letter!
That’s great, good for her.c
Wango Tango! Ted Nugent must be apoplectic
GOOD. Don’t care if she has a hidden agenda or what. This is right, nice, good, important, everything.
Good for her–I think her message is more powerful than many other celebs who just wear rainbow gear or even just donate (not that donating is a bad thing–it’s fantastic and needed). But yeah, doing her homework, engaging as a local citizen with knowledge about and commitment to her community and the legislation that’s in play–those are thoughtful and helpful.
I would love to see her start working on being a better ally in the fight against racism as well. Using privilege to raise up others is needed.
I appreciate the fact that she, as one of our straight allies and with a divided fanbase, took this stand. She’s right. We do still have a way to go before everyone is really treated equally.
It’s so important she’s doing this right now. Tennessee legislators have passed anti-LGBT laws and are salivating to pass an anti-abortion law. And of course, people here suffer from the persistent, vicious racism as seen through hate organizations like League of the South–whose members were involved in the event in Charlottesville where Heather Heyer was murdered. We have an election for Nashville mayor coming up in August, and the progressive incumbent needs support. It’s go time for people to step up and use their money and power for good. Where are the other country music stars on this?? (Hiding at their megachurch events during the week and flying to their L.A. homes every weekend…) We did have our NFL team make a statement in support of LGBT during the draft here, which was great. Now we have Amazon.com soon bringing 5,000 employees from their ops division to town, which should apply more pressure to modernize laws. In the context of our current hell here, what Taylor is doing matters very, very much.
Well done!
Her colour scheme for promoting the new album is basically the pansexual pride flag!
She took a big risk there. Normally that’s called ‘Qu33rbaeting!1’, but in her case, we all know what her saving grace is.