CELEBRITY

Taylor Swift Reacts to 2020 Census Excluding Transgender and Non-Binary People

ABC/Dave Hogan

Taylor Swift is a known advocate for the LGBTQ+ community and is infuriated by the exclusion of Transgender and Non-binary people in the US 2020 Census.

On Friday, June 26, Taylor spoke out on Pride Live’s Stonewall Day live stream, calling out the US census for only putting two choices for gender.

“I got my census the other day and there were two choices for gender, there was male and female,” she said. “And that erasure was so upsetting to me, the erasure of transgender and non-binary people.”

“And when you don’t collect information on a group of people, that means that you have every excuse in the world not to support them. When you don’t collect data on a community, that’s a really brutal way of dismissing them. So obviously we all need to exercise our right to vote this year, we need to check out our absentee ballot policy in our states, and we need to make sure that we elect people who care about all communities.”

Taylor summed up her disappointment by urging fans to vote to protect the LGBTQ+ community.

“Obviously, we all need to exercise our right to vote this year. We need to check out our absentee ballot policy in our states and we need to make sure that we elect people who care about all communities,” she explained.

Earlier in Taylor’s speech, she commemorated The Stonewall Inn and Pride Month. The Stonewall Inn, a New York City gay bar is a memorable site being it was the start of the gay rights movement. Stonewall is an annual celebration in which many celebrities participate in.

“The Stonewall Inn has been such a symbol of rebellion in the face of oppression and such a safe space for people. I want to say thank you to everybody who works there, everyone who has worked there, everyone who’s made it the place that it is.”

In addition to her speech, Taylor highlighted the positive strides the LGBTQ+ community has made over the years. She applauded the US Supreme Court for proposing a federal law that protects LGBTQ people from discrimination within their workplace.

“We had a really good step forward recently with the Supreme Court ruling based on discrimination, based on sex. But we still have so far to go in terms of equality and protections for LGBTQ people and people in the trans community,’ Swift said.

Pride’s Live Stonewall Day is helping raise funds for LGBTQ organizations that have been affected by COVD-19. Organizations such as Brave Space Alliance, Translatin@ Coalition, The Ally Coalition, and Trans Lifeline help serve the trans and LGBTQ community. If you are interested in donating, please visit OneCause.