During Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Chicago, the pop icon took a moment to celebrate Pride Month and encourage her fans to support the LGBTQ+ community by voting against harmful legislation.
Sitting at her piano in front of the thousands of people gathered at Chicago’s Soldier Field stadium, Swift said that her concert was both a safe space for the community, and place of celebration.
“I’m looking out tonight, I’m seeing so many incredible individuals who are living authentically and beautifully, and this is a safe space for you,” Swift said. “This is a celebratory space for you. One of the things that makes me feel so prideful is getting to be with you and watching you interact with each other, being so loving and so thoughtful and so caring.”
She continued, “Being with you during Pride Month, getting to sing the words to ‘You Need To Calm Down’ where there are lyrics like, ‘Can you just not step on his gown?’ or, ‘Shade never made anybody less gay,’ and you guys are screaming those lyrics. Such solidarity. Such support of one another and such encouraging, beautiful acceptance and peace and safety. And I wish that every place was safe and beautiful for people of the LGBTQ+ community.”
In the past, the Midnight singer-songwriter has used her platform to speak up on political and social justice issues. In 2018, Swift broke her political silence and endorsed a pair of Tennessee Democrats in the November midterms. In an Instagram post, she voiced her support for candidates who will “fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
Last June, Swift retweeted a letter penned by Michelle Obama on the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and denounced the court’s decision to strip women of their rights to abortion access “I’m absolutely terrified that this is where we are,” she wrote. “That after so many decades of people fighting for women’s rights to their own bodies, today’s decision has stripped us of that.”
On Friday, Swift urged those in the audience to take action and vote for legislators that protect and support the LGBTQ+ community.
“We can’t talk about Pride without talking about pain. Right now and recently there have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ+ and queer community at risk,” said the artist. “It’s painful for everyone. Every ally. Every loved one. Every person in these communities. And that’s why I’m always posting, ‘This is when the midterms are. This is when these important key primaries are.’”
Swift emphasized showing support outside of pride month and holding lawmakers accountable. The icon urged fans to question the nation’s politicians: “Are they actually advocates? Are they allies? Are they protectors of equality? Do I want to vote for them?”