Taylor Swift letter urges Republican senator to back LGBTQ rights
Taylor Swift kicked off Pride Month on Saturday by asking the Tennessee Republican senator Lamar Alexander to protect LGBTQ rights and support the Equality Act.
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Swift, who lives in Tennessee, posted a letter on social media that said she supported the recent passage by the House of the Equality Act, which would extend civil rights protections to LGBTQ people by prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
She wrote: “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.”
The Equality Act protections would extend to employment, housing, loan applications, education, public accommodations and other areas. The bill would in effect extend the same constitutional rights to LGBTQ people that are supposed to prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability and religion.
The Democratic-controlled House passed the legislation in mid-May. Every Democrat voted in favor, as did eight Republicans. The Republican-controlled Senate has not picked up the bill.
Swift’s appeal is not likely to sway Alexander, who, according to the Human Rights Campaign advocacy group, has a 0% voting record on LGBTQ interests.
Republican lawmakers in Tennessee recently introduced six anti-LGBTQ bills, an effort one advocacy group labelled a Slate of Hate. In her letter, Swift said the bills had “serious potential to cripple us from bringing new jobs to Tennessee”.
Related: Texas clings to unconstitutional, homophobic laws – and it's not alone
Swift also said she “personally rejects” the notion that Donald Trump’s administration supports equal treatment of all people.
This appeared to be a reference to a tweet from Trump on Friday that asked Americans to “celebrate LGBTQ Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions that LGBTQ people have made to our great nation”, and to “stand in solidarity with the many LGBTQ people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation”.
The message was later released as an official statement from the White House. Trump received widespread criticism for the message’s incompatibility with his administration’s record on LGBTQ rights.
Trump, whose vice-president, Mike Pence, is frequently criticised for his views on LGBTQ rights, has banned transgender people from the US military.
Recently, the administration has expanded a so-called “conscience” rule allowing healthcare providers to turn away LGBTQ people on religious grounds, and ended protections in federally funded homeless shelters for transgender people.
