Taylor Swift Celebrates Pride Month During Wango Tango Performance

Scott Baumgartner‍ ‍
Updated
Taylor Swift Celebrates Pride Month During Wango Tango Performance

Taylor Swift is proudly displaying her support for Pride Month.

The hit-making singer took the stage at iHeartRadio's Wango Tango 2019 on Saturday night in a rainbow-themed ensemble, which included rainbow-colored leather jacket featuring super-long fringe, matching sneakers and high-waisted rainbow shorts.

Amid her set -- which contained hits from her entire career and an appearance by Panic! At the Disco's Brendon Urie to sing their new single, "ME!" -- Swift took a moment to express her support for the LGBTQ community.

"I just feel like who you love and how you identify, you should be able to live your life the way you want to live your life," she told the crowd.

Earlier on Saturday, Swift shared a lengthy letter she wrote to Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from her home state of Tennessee, asking that he support the Equality Act, a piece of legislation which has already passed in the House that protects LGBTQ individuals' rights.

Taylor Swift
Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Taylor Swift
Rich Fury/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Taylor Swift, Brendan Urie
Kevin Winter/Getty Images for iHeartMedia

"I'm writing to you today in anticipation of a very important vote coming up," she wrote. "As you know, the House has just passed the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their workplace, in their homes and in schools. For American citizens, to be denied jobs or housing based on who they love and how they identify, in my opinion, is un-American and cruel. I know there are those who say this disrupts their religious freedom, but there are hundreds of Tennessee faith leaders who have recently (and very vocally) disagreed and spoken out to defend the LGBTQ community."

"A recent study shows that over 64 percent of Tennesseans support laws for protection of LGBTQ people against discrimination," Swift continued. "Reports are that the majority of Americans across ALL parties favor these nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people (liberals at 81 percent, moderates at 76 percent, conservatives at 55 percent). To vote against this bill would be to vote against the wishes of most Tennesseans and Americans."

Swift also rejected President Donald Trump'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.'"

"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," she added. Concluding her note, she urged the senator to "please think about the lives you could change for the better if you were to vote to support the Equality Act."

🌈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

The 29-year-old singer has also created a petition on Change.org to help rally her fans behind supporting the passage of the Equality Act in the Senate. Two days after it was created, the petition already gained over 84,000 signatures, with a goal of 150,000.

"Let's show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally," the petition's statement concludes.

There is currently no date for when the Equality Act will go before the Senate.

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