Editor’s note: Dean Obeidallah, a former attorney, is the host of SiriusXM radio’s daily program “The Dean Obeidallah Show.” Follow him @DeanObeidallah@masto.ai. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.
Taylor Swift is taking a strong stand in support of the LGBTQ community amid a raft of anti-gay bills being introduced in state legislatures and a push by some conservative pundits to brand anything LGBTQ-related dangerous.
The massively popular singer-songwriter marked Pride Month by telling the nearly 64,000 people who packed Chicago’s Soldier Field on Friday: “First things first, Happy Pride Month, everyone.” The performer — who is in the midst of her sold-out “Eras Tour” — told the Swifties that her LGBTQ fans are “the most stunning, beautiful, brilliant crowds of people who are living their authentic lives.”
The 12-time Grammy Award winner added that the concert was a “safe space” for the LGBTQ community but then touched on the harsh reality of the current situation, saying, “We can’t talk about pride without talking about pain.” Swift then explained, “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. It’s painful for everyone. Every ally. Every loved one. Every person in these communities.”
Swift is 100% correct. A record number of anti-LGBTQ bills have been introduced and enacted in some GOP-controlled states this year. The legislation ranges from laws prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender teens to the banning of books with LGBTQ themes to measures — as the American Civil Liberties Union has documented — designed “to undermine and weaken nondiscrimination laws by allowing employers, businesses, and even hospitals to turn away LGBTQ people or refuse them equal treatment.”
Beyond this legislation, the uptick in anti-LGBTQ rhetoric and actions by some voices on the right has been deeply alarming. Popular right-wing commentator Matt Walsh recently wrote on Twitter, “The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands,” adding, “If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should know that they’ll pay a price.” Right-wing podcaster Michael Knowles expressed that same sentiment as well. “We need to make that symbol toxic, the pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic. We need to have companies think twice about it,” said Knowles, who once co-hosted a podcast with GOP Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
With such comments in the past few weeks, there have been reports that employees at Target were threatened by people outraged by Pride Month displays in stores — and some of these displays were knocked down. As a result, Target removed pride-related items in some places or moved them to the back of stores to protect employees.
Swift spoke out in this climate. But the Friday concert was far from the first time she has publicly supported the LGBTQ community. In June 2019, she marked Pride Month by creating a petition at Change.org urging passage of the Equality Act — which would prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. (The House passed the act in 2021, but it stalled in the Senate.)
That same month Swift also released a video for her hit song “You Need to Calm Down,” which featured famous members of the LGBTQ community such as Ellen DeGeneres, RuPaul, Adam Lambert and others. And when she received an award at the MTV Video Music Awards later in 2019, she urged her fans to support the Equality Act by signing the petition she had created to ensure that “we’re all treated equally under the law.”
But conditions today feel more dangerous than in 2019. Perhaps the success in overturning Roe v. Wade after 50 years has emboldened some right-wingers to believe they can roll back progress in other areas as well.
Concern about a rollback in rights may explain why, on her latest tour, Swift did more than just offer support for the LGBTQ community but called on her Swifties to make an impact on electoral politics. “We can support as much as we want during Pride Month,” Swift said. But, she continued, we need to do “our research on these elected officials — are they actually advocates? Are they allies? Are they protectors of equality? Do I want to vote for them?”
Will the voices on the right now call for a boycott of Swift, like they did with Target and others? Good luck with that, given the singer’s massive support in both blue and red states. This weekend, her three sold-out shows in Chicago were to see more than 190,000 people attend. Just last month, Swift set a new record in Nashville with three sold-out shows at Nissan Stadium — with about 71,000 attending each concert for a total of roughly 212,000 people. (For context, former President Donald Trump’s much-hyped first 2024 campaign rally held in Texas saw an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 per the local fire marshal’s office — although no official count was recorded.)
In her 2014 hit song “Shake It Off,” the megastar sang about how, “The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate,” and in response, “I’m just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake, I shake it off.” This time Swift wants her fans to do more than just “shake it off.” She wants them to vote, vote, vote out the haters. And given their sheer numbers, the Swifties have the power to do just that.
