Taylor Swift’s 2019 was an interesting look at how an artist can evolve and grow, and then end up in a similar place as before. One of Taylor’s big “causes” in 2019 was gay rights, and advocacy and allyship for LGBTQ people. Some nice stuff: she educated the Snake Fam on how to support LGBTQ interests on local, state and federal levels. She donated money to good causes supporting those interests too. Some not great stuff: the “Performative Friendship: Rainbow Coalition” of the “You Need To Calm Down” music video, where she used gay people as props and lyrically compared her own snake drama to the long history of marginalization and oppression of the LGBTQ community. Even Beth Ditto said something. But still, the official story is that Taylor Swift is the Biggest Gay Ally Ever. So, naturally, this is happening:

GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy organization, is set to honor Taylor Swift at the 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards on April 16, 2020. The singer will be presented with the prestigious Vanguard Award, which celebrates allies who have made a difference in promoting acceptance of the LGBTQ community.

“From boldly standing up against anti-LGBTQ elected officials to shining attention on the urgent need to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination through the Equality Act, Taylor Swift proudly uses her unique ability to influence pop culture to promote LGBTQ acceptance,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. “In a time of political and cultural division, Taylor creates music that unites and calls on her massive fan following to speak up and call for change.”

Swift was also recently named Artist of the Decade at the 2019 American Music Awards and the Woman of the Decade for Billboard’s annual Women in Music event.

Previous recipients of the Vanguard Award include Beyoncé and JAY-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Kerry Washington, Cher, Janet Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, Antonio Banderas, Demi Lovato, Whoopi Goldberg and Patricia Arquette.

[From THR]

I can understand the calculation from GLAAD – they likely reasoned that it was better for Taylor to come late to the cause than not come at all. Plus, she’s one of the most famous women in the world and when she started speaking about her allyship publicly, it was genuinely a big deal. Anyway, I will look forward to her speech where she’ll definitely spin some conspiracy theories about George Soros and Kanye West and Scooter Braun and wrap it all up in feminism and allyship. Anything to deflect from CATS!

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red and WENN.