Taylor Swift Pens Letter To Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander In Support Of LGBT Rights

Putting the ‘A’ for ‘ally’ in LGBTQIA+? Singer-songwriter Taylor Swift kicked Pride Month and her support for the LGBTQIA+ community with an open letter addressed to Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander, urging him to “protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their workplace, in their homes and in schools.”

Swift opened the letter by thanking Alexander on co-sponsoring the decision to honor the 100-year anniversary of the 19^thAmendment’s ratification. She noted women’s voting rights as a step in the right direction for the country, but also noted that more work needs to be done in order to deliver basic human rights to all people.

Swift, who just released her Brendon Urie-assisted single, “Me,” brought her colorful return to music (and politics) onto the Wango Tango stage. Donned in a rainbow two-piece set, fluttering with fringes, she performed hit-after-hit-after-hit. Urie, who is openly pansexual, joined Swift on-stage wearing a shirt that read “100% Love, 100% Equality, 100% Loud, 100% Proud, 100% Together, 100% Me.”

Swift, known by fans for her iconography (ie. the number 13, the color red, a snake for the reputation era), seems to be using rainbows and butterflies to soften her image following her last album which debuted a darker and edgier side of Swift.

Swift’s transition may be a symbol of hope for the country, aiming to shed its dark past of anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric and laws. The Equality Act, passed by the House on May 17, has yet to reach the Senate. If voted into law, it would mark the first time that legislation would uncompromisingly benefit and protect the lives of LGBTQIA+ members and protect them against discrimination.

Conversely, President Donald Trump’s administration has voiced its concern for the bill, saying that it “in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights.”

50 CELEBRITIES WHO DIED IN 2018 – TRIBUTE SLIDESHOW