Taylor Swift—who is in the public eye right now with her wildly popular Eras tour—gave a speech about LGBTQ+ Pride month during a concert in Chicago.
Pride is June in the United States.
In the speech, Swift called out the legislation running rampant through state legistlatures around the country, bringing out the transphobes and homophobes and in some cases codifying their bigotry into law.
Swift said:
"We can't talk about Pride Month without talking about pain."
\u201cTaylor Swift speaks out against anti-queer legislation during Pride Month speech at the Eras Tour:\n\n\u201cWe can\u2019t talk about Pride Month without talking about pain. There have been so many harmful pieces of legislation that have put people in the LGBTQ and Queer community at risk.\u201d\u201d— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1685776673
Swift's fans were quick to support her message, decrying those who said in the past Swift's silence was loud on these issues.
\u201c\u201cTaylor Swift doesn\u2019t talk about pride, she doesn\u2019t support LGBTQ, she\u2019s not doing enough\u201d \nbesides FILLING AN WHOLE STADIUM with pride colors EVERY WEEKEND FOR THREE NIGHTS and singing a song AGAINST PEOPLE WHO DONT SUPPORT LGBTQ, she does speak about the problems so shut up\u201d— carolina tv \ud83e\udea9 in my inactive era (@carolina tv \ud83e\udea9 in my inactive era) 1685777987
\u201c@PopBase I love her so much. Needed to hear her talk about it\u201d— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1685776673
\u201cglad she spoke up and i\u2019m hoping it\u2019s genuine and not just because of the backlash, either way it\u2019s good she\u2019s not being silent\u201d— lauren (@lauren) 1685801638
\u201c@PopBase finely queen Taylor Swift raised her voice of protest especially for LGBTQ+ pride month. \u2665\ufe0f\u201d— Pop Base (@Pop Base) 1685776673
Responding to critics, some pointed out it's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation for Swift.
And they were happy she supported the LGBTQ+ community.
\u201cif some of the quotes on this tweet don\u2019t make you realize that some people will never be satisfied with anything Taylor does, then i don\u2019t know what will. they\u2019ll always find issue in every action of hers and you simply have to\nlearn to ignore them cause what else can you do\u201d— Oates (@Oates) 1685783218
\u201c@PopCrave I wish ppl in the comments were like \u201csee she said something stop complaining\u201d like celebrities don\u2019t have to speak on every issue but it\u2019s important when they do especially taylor who has a huge impact I\u2019m glad she said something and continues to speak out\u201d— Pop Crave (@Pop Crave) 1685775350
Swift's Eras tour runs through early August.