Taylor Swift kicked off Pride Month with a heartfelt speech for her LGBTQIA+ fans during the Chicago stop of her Eras Tour Friday night.
“I’m looking out tonight [and] I’m seeing so many incredible individuals who are living authentically and beautifully, and this is a safe space for you,” the pop star, 33, said while on stage, per video footage circulating online. “This is a celebratory space for you.”
Swift added that she feels so “prideful” when she sees her fans be “so loving and so thoughtful and so caring.”
The Grammy winner noted that she enjoys getting to sing her track “You Need to Calm Down,” which includes lyrics like, “Can you just not step on his gown?” or “Shade never made anybody less gay.”
“You guys are screaming those lyrics [with] such solidarity [and] such support of one another and such encouraging, beautiful acceptance and peace and safety,” Swift said.
“And I wish that every place was safe and beautiful for people of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Swift then urged her fans to vote in local elections and stand with the LGBTQIA+ community beyond the month of June.
“We can support as much as we want during Pride Month, but if we’re not doing our research on these elected officials, are they advocates? Are they allies? Are they protectors of equality?” the “Bad Blood” singer asked.
In the beginning of her career, Swift kept most of her political views under wraps.
However, in October 2018, the “Shake It Off” singer supported the LGBTQIA+ community and people of color publicly for the first time.
She took to social media to endorse Phil Bredesen for the US Senate and Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives during the midterm elections.
“In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now,” Swift wrote on Instagram at the time.
“I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG,” the “Blank Space” songstress continued.
“I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent.”
The following year, Swift wrote a letter to Lamar Alexander, who was the Senator of Tennessee at the time, calling for him to support the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQIA+ people from discrimination in the workplace, home and school.
She also donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project, an organization that advocates for the equal rights of LGBTQIA+ people in Tennessee.
