Taylor Swift released her new track “You Need To Calm Down” overnight and the lyrics urge anti-gay haters to STFU and even make reference to an LGBTQ rights organization (though the reference is homophonous and you wouldn’t realize it unless you actually read them or watched the lyric video).
Swift, who recently lobbied Senator Lamar Alexander for passage of the Equality Act, stands up for her gay fans again by ripping people who have an issue with LGBTQ folk.
“Sunshine on the street at the parade,” she sings. “But you would rather be in the dark ages / Makin’ that sign must’ve taken all night.”
Explaining that anti-gay hate won’t cause anyone’s sexual orientation to change, Swift sings, “And control your urges to scream about the people you hate / ‘Cause shade never made anybody less gay.”
She also adds: “You need to just stop, like can you just not step on his gown?”
And the homophonous call out: “Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD? (You could be GLAAD)”
In addition to lobbying Alexander, Swift also recently made a massive unsolicited $113,000 donation to the Tennessee Equality Project, an LGBTQ rights group working to overturn discriminatory legislation in the state.
Wrote Swift in a letter to the group’s director Chris Sanders: “I’m writing you to say that I’m so inspired by the work you do, specifically in organizing the recent petition of Tennessee faith leaders standing up against the ‘slate of hate’ in our state legislature. Please convey my heartfelt thanks to them and accept this donation to support the work you and these leaders are doing. I’m so grateful that they’re giving all people a place to worship.”
