Taylor Swift on LGBTQ+ Rights

Taylor Swift on LGBTQ+ Rights Dec 2, 2020 21:05:42 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 2, 2020 21:05:42 GMT

Taylor Swift is making her voice heard in more ways than one! The "Folklore" singer was given the 2020 Attitude Icon Award for her allyship to the LGBTQ+ community throughout the year. In her speech, the music superstar vowed to always be a champion for equal rights after accepting the honor virtually from longtime friend Todrick Hall. "I just believe very firmly that everyone should be able to live out their love story without the fear of discrimination," she said. "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."

Taylor Swift is proudly standing by the LGBTQ community.

On Tuesday evening, Swift was honored with the Icon Award at the 2020 Attitude Awards. In her speech, the 30-year-old musician promised to "always advocate" for the community and lend her support to them.

Receiving the award from her friend and collaborator, Todrick Hall, Swift opened her speech by sharing, "I'm really, really grateful for this, this is so amazing."

"I want to say thank you to anyone who had a hand in deciding that I should deserve this," she continued. "Mostly I want to say thank you to the fans for giving me a platform to make music and to be vocal about the things I think are right and wrong."

Then, noting that she believes "very firmly that everyone should be able to live out their love story without fear of discrimination," Swift added, "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."

In years past, Swift has been a forthright advocate for the community, often donating money to support groups and penning powerful letters calling for action for those who identify as a member of the LGBTQ community.

Last April, the Grammy award-winning singer donated $113,000 to aid efforts to stop anti-LGBTQ legislature in support of the Tennessee Equality Project.

Executive director Chris Sanders praised the "You Need to Calm Down" crooner as a "long-time ally to the LGBTQ community" in a message shared to Facebook.

"She sees our struggle in Tennessee and continues to add her voice with so many good people, including religious leaders, who are speaking out for love in the face of fear," he wrote at the time. "Tennessee Equality Project is honored and grateful to reveal Taylor Swift has made a donation of $113,000 to support our efforts at this critical moment."

Taylor Swift on LGBTQ+ Rights Dec 3, 2020 6:18:26 GMT

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Post by Admin on Dec 3, 2020 6:18:26 GMT

LGBT activists rally in Moscow's Pushkin Square on July 15, 2020. The poster reads: "I don't accept power that does not allow me to have a family!" Credit - Pavel Golovkin—AP

There aren’t many people like Yulia Tsvetkova in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The Russian city is 5,000 miles and seven time zones east of the capital, Moscow, and for half the year, it is under snow or ice. It’s known more for shipbuilding and aircraft manufacturing than LGBTQ rights and feminist activism — but that hasn’t stopped Tsvetkova forging a reputation in both. “There are practically no activists here, most of them try to leave,” she says, over a phone call. “But there’s still a lot I can do.”

In the past three years, the 27-year-old has headed a youth theatre, where she created plays that explored gender stereotypes, run online groups on feminism and sex education, and published drawings that she says promote LGBTQ and women’s rights on social media. Her activism has made her a target for the authorities. In July, about a week after the Kremlin pushed through constitutional amendments that include defining marriage as a union between a man and woman, Tsvetkova was fined for a second time under the country’s notorious “gay propaganda” law and forced to pay 75,000 Rubles ($1000) over her colorful illustrations of same-sex couples and their young children.

Tsvetkova is now facing charges of “spreading pornography” for a Vagina Monologues page she published on social media last November, which features illustrations of vaginas, aimed at breaking the stigma around women’s bodies. “I laughed, my lawyer laughed, my friends laughed. Anyone can see that this isn’t pornography,” she says. Yet she spent four months under house arrest and prosecutors are relentlessly trying to build a case against her. If she is found guilty, as 99% of those prosecuted in Russia’s criminal courts are, she could be sent to jail for up to six years. Tsvetkova has become a symbol of the resistance against Russia’s enforcement of “traditional values” and despite the Kremlin’s attempt to stigmatize her activism, she has received unprecedented support from celebrities, artists and journalists across Russia and beyond.