Taylor Swift celebrated Thursday as protections for LGBTQ Americans came closer to reality.
“YES!!! Fingers crossed and praying that the Senate will see trans and lgbtq rights as basic human rights,” the pop star tweeted after the U.S. House of Representatives voted 224-206 in favour of the bill dubbed the Equality Act.
The legislation, which must now be passed by the U.S. Senate, creates federal protections against discrimination on the basis of “sex, sexual orientation and gender identity” in such areas as housing, employment and public accommodations.
According to a newly published Gallup poll, 5.6 percent of U.S. adults openly identifying as LGBT.
YES!!! Fingers crossed and praying that the Senate will see trans and lgbtq rights as basic human rights. ️⚧️️ https://t.co/Nb19UGXgY3
— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) February 25, 2021
Swift has long been a vocal ally in the fight for equality.
“You know, a lot of my songs are about love and I just feel like who you love, how you identify – you should be able to live your life the way you want to live your life,” she said on stage at the iHeartRadio Wango Tango in 2019. “You should have the same exact rights as everybody else.”
In her 2019 hit “You Need To Calm Down,” Swift sings: “Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate / 'Cause shade never made anybody less gay.”
That same year, she shared in an Instagram post: “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.”
In October 2018, she wrote in an Instagram post: “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG.”
This past December, Swift was presented with the Icon Award at the UK Attitude Awards, which honour members of the LGBTQ community and their allies. She thanked fans for giving her a platform to make music “and to be vocal about the things I think are right and wrong.”
The pop star said: "I just believe very firmly that everyone should be able to live out their love story without fear of discrimination and the way for that to happen is for us to continue to keep pushing governments to put protections in place for members of the LGBTQ community.
“And I promise to always advocate for that.”