Taylor Swift Drives Donations To LGBTQ Advocacy Group With ‘You Need To Calm Down’
Taylor Swift’s music video for her new song, “You Need to Calm Down,” is awash in LGBT iconography and in clear support of the community. Swift’s lyrics are highly political — they speak loudly against hate against the LGBT community — and are a huge shift from her usual work.
With the line “Why are you mad? When you could be GLAAD?” Swift alludes to the LGBT organization GLAAD, a group that advocates against defamation of the LGBT community in media.
Since the release of the video, GLAAD has received a spike of donations, many in the amount of $13, a clear tribute to Taylor Swift’s lucky number. Swift was born on December 13, and has snuck the number into several of her music videos, per MTV.
In addition to driving donations to GLAAD, Swift made a large donation herself earlier this month before the music video even came out.
Her support for the LGBT community has been very vocal and relatively sudden.
Before October of last year, she never spoke of her political opinions. That changed when she publicly endorsed her local Democratic candidates in the 2018 midterms. Earlier this month, she wrote a letter to a Republican senator in her home state of Tennessee, imploring him to support the Equality Act that passed the House earlier this month.
Swift’s support of the LGBT community has been lauded by many, including GLAAD organizers.
“The fact that she [Swift] continues to use her platform and music to support the LGBTQ community… is a true sign of being an ally. ‘You Need to Calm Down’ is the perfect Pride anthem, and we’re thrilled to see Taylor standing with the LGBTQ community to promote inclusivity, equality, and acceptance this Pride month,” said Anthony Ramos, GLAAD director of talent engagement, in a statement via CNBC.
However, some have been skeptical of Swift’s support, saying that the prolific singer-songwriter has been using her platform to promote herself as an ally while not truly supporting the community. Several posts on Twitter have pointed out that Swift compares the hate she receives online to the systematic oppression of the LGBT community.
Still, others have pointed out that her allyship is undoubtedly a good thing and that detractors are being overly critical.
GLAAD itself has been nothing but grateful for Swift’s support. Since the music video’s debut, their official Twitter account has made several posts referencing her good deeds, even running a promotion based on the song.
This is an entire #PrideMonth mood.
cc: @taylorswift13 ? pic.twitter.com/xUyoaCLMr2
— GLAAD (@glaad) June 14, 2019
Taylor Swift is continuing her good work. The artist was last seen performing at Wango Tango. She also made an appearance at The Stonewall Inn, where she did a duet with Jesse Tyler Ferguson while singing “Shake It Off.”
Ticketmaster states that the artist does not have any more concerts on the boards at this time.
