Taylor Swift Loves Us

She really does.

This Pride, Taylor Swift came out as an unequivocal LGBT ally.  At the stroke of midnight Saturday, June 1st (Eastern Standard Time), which is traditionally the start of our country’s collective Pride month celebrations, Swift posted a letter she penned to her state Senator, in a passionate plea urging him to support the Equality Act in the Senate, on Instagram.

By advocating on behalf of the Equality Act—which recently passed the House and must now be approved by the GOP-controlled Senate—and expounding on the importance of protections for LGBTQ Americans Swift sent a clear message to her fans and the world.

“I’ve decided to kick off Pride Month by writing a letter to one of my senators to explain how strongly I feel that the Equality Act should be passed,” she wrote. “Politicians need votes to stay in office. Votes come from the people. Pressure from massive amounts of people is a major way to push politicians towards positive change.”

“Our country’s lack of protection for its own citizens ensures that LGBTQ people must live in fear that their lives could be turned upside down by an employer or landlord who is homophobic or transphobic. The fact that, legally, some people are completely at the mercy of the hatred and bigotry of others is disgusting and unacceptable.”

Swift also shared a link to a petition she created in support of the Equality Act. As of this posting, in the day and a half it’s been up, it has gathered nearly 85,000 signatures.

Swift has been an outspoken ally of the LGBTQ community as of late, after a promise last year to stop being silent on political matters.

Back in April, Swift donated $113,000 to fight Tennessee’s “Slate of Hate,” a series of bills that could potentially rollback LGBTQ rights in the state.

As The Daily Beast reported:

Just a few album cycles ago, Swift was getting called out for her political silence. Her reticence to tell fans who she was voting for in 2016 stuck out as particularly craven. Given Swift’s background as a country-to-pop crossover artist, it’s easy to guess at her rationale. Considering a Venn diagram of country fans and Trump supporters, Swift may have understandably chosen to put her Hillary Clinton cape back in the closet so as not to piss off paying customers (when it comes to her brand and her career, Swift is a smart lady). But in the midst of an increasingly dystopian Trump era, her apoliticism has aged poorly. Either the singer sensed the woker Swifties turning against her, or she simply could not stomach doing nothing. 

Whatever her motives, last year Swift shocked her followers by publicly endorsing two Democrats and strongly disavowing Republican Marsha Blackburn for Senate. “She voted against equal pay for women,” Swift informed her followers. “She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry.” The singer declared, “These are not MY Tennessee values.”

We love Taylor either way and are happy to see her being the change she wants to see.

Watch “ME!” again, or for the first time if you haven’t seen it below.