Taylor Swift penned an open letter supporting the Equality Act for Pride Month—and spoke out against President Trump
Pride Month kicked off on June 1st, and Taylor Swift is already hard at work being an ally. She penned an open letter to Republican Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander in support of the Equality Act, which advocates for the prevention of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Along with an online petition, Swift hopes her letter will inspire others to contact their senators and demand they support the act when it appears in the Senate.
"While we have so much to celebrate, we also have a great distance to go before everyone in this country is truly treated equally," Swift wrote in the caption of her Instagram post. "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."
Swift begins her letter to Senator Alexander by commending him for co-sponsoring a resolution to honor the centennial celebration of passing the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. She then outlines the cruciality of the passage of the Equality Act and how, if it’s not passed, the lack of protection would be detrimental to Tennessee citizens as well as the state’s economy.
Swift also states that she rejects the president’s negative remarks about the Equality Act.
"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, nonbinary or transgender parents, sons or daughters."
During her June 2nd performance at iHeartRadio’s Wango Tango, Swift urged fans to check out her Change.org petition. It had been signed by over 99,000 people as of June 3rd.
“It’s for the Equality Act, and it basically just says that we want to send a message to our government that we believe everybody should be treated fairly in this country,” Swift said, Rolling Stone reports. “If you sign it, it would really mean a lot to me, because I think we need to stick up for each other and stand together. Don’t you?”
Sign the petition and contact your state Senator regarding the Equality Act. Swift, and many others, will thank you.
