Taylor Swift Urges Senate To Pass Pro-LGBTQ+ Equality Act In Open Letter

By Lauren Crawford

June 1, 2019

In honor of the first day of Pride Month, Taylor Swift has taken a stand for the LGBTQ+ community.

In a passionate open letter to her Tennesse Senator, Lamar Alexander, the "ME!" singer urged the passing of the Equality Act — which protects LGBTQ+ people from discrimination and was recently passed in the House of Representatives— and expressed her frustration with the White House's position against the legislation.

"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," Taylor wrote. "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 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, non binary or transgender parents, sons or daughters."

Taylor's open letter also included a message to her fans as she asked that they too get involved in the fight to pass the Equality Act. "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," she captioned the Instagram post of her open letter.

"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," Taylor continued.

"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," she added. "Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally."

Read Taylor's message to Senator Alexander in full below. And CLICK HERE to sign her "Support the Equality Act" petition.

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 May 31, 2019 at 9:05pm PDT

World Pride 2019 is on its way and iHeartPride is celebrating the monumental June celebration with all kinds of coverage. iHeartRadio, Z100 New York and 103.5 KTU are Presenting Media Sponsors for NYC Pride and we’re taking the milestone to heart with LGBTQ-focused coverage on everything from entertainment, politics and details on the summer festivities. After all, it does coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Stay tuned for more on World Pride 2019 and keep an eye out for our float in the Big Apple’s all accumulating parade on June 30th!

Photo: Getty Images

TopicsTaylor Swift