Skip to main content

Home Culture Culture Film & TV

3 June 2019 10:39 AM

Taylor Swift slams Trump over LGBTQ rights as she urges senator to back Equality Act

The 'ME!' singer marked the beginning of Pride month with a rainbow-coloured call-to-arms.

By Will Stroude

Taylor Swift has hit out at Donald Trump’s “incredibly harmful” stance on LGBTQ equality in an open letter to her state senator urging him to vote in favour of Tennessee’s Equality Act.

The ‘Me!’ singer, 29, said she “personally reject[s]” the US President’s opposition to the bill, which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Announcing she had started a petition in support of the legislation, which has already been passed by the Tennessee House of Representatives, Swift wrote: “The fact that, legally, some people are completely at the mercy of the hatred and bigotry of others is disgusting and unacceptable.

“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.”

 
 
 
View this post on Instagram

🌈HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!!🌈 While we have so much to celebrate, we also have a great distance to go before everyone in this country is truly treated equally. In excellent recent news, the House has passed the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations. The next step is that the bill will go before the Senate. 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. I urge you to write to your senators too. I’ll be looking for your letters by searching the hashtag #lettertomysenator. While there’s no information yet as to when the Equality Act will go before the Senate for a vote, we do know this: 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. That’s why I’ve created a petition at change.org to urge the Senate to support the Equality Act. 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. Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally. 🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈🌈 Click the link in my bio to sign the petition for Senate support of the Equality Act.

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on

In her open letter to Senator Lamar Alexander urging him to vote in favour of the bill, the singer added: “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 undermin parental conscience rights.” No.

“One cannot take the position that one supports a community, while condeming 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 heterosexual and cisgender, which is an incredibly harmful message to send to a nation full of healthy and loving families with same-sex, nonbinary or transgender parents, sons or daughters. 

Swift’s latest public show of solidarity with the LGBTQ community comes after it was revealed in April that the star had donated over $100,000 to a Tennessee LGBTQ rights organisation fighting anti-gay bills in the state.

The singer also plugged her petition during her set at LA music festival Wango Tango on Saturday (1 June).

Dressed in rainbow outfit, Swift urged the audience to sign the petition as she told them: “It’s wonderful to be spending this particular evening with you because today is the first day of Pride Month.

“You know, a lot of my songs are about love and I just feel like who you love, how you identify – you should be able to live your life the way you want to live your life.

“You should have the same exact rights as everybody else.”

In This Article: