U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) signed and promoted Taylor Swift’s Change.org petition asking the U.S. Senate to support the Equality Act.
The presidential candidate’s statement is available here.
Warren’s support follows the endorsement of U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), which was published on Change.org last week.
Swift is the creator of the petition in question. It is available here.
Warren shared this statement with Change.org users:
It’s 2019 and our LGBTQ+ friends continue to face discrimination at work, school, and in their communities. Trans people in America are getting murdered – most of them women of color. In the name of protecting religious liberty, civil rights are being trampled on. It’s hard to find an affordable place to live that doesn’t discriminate based on your gender identity or expression, race, or who you love.
Enough is enough. I’m proud to represent Massachusetts in the Senate, a state that has led the nation in protecting and promoting equality. But there’s so much more work to be done. We can start by passing the Equality Act – a bill that would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations.
I’m glad to see the United States House of Representatives has taken the first steps in the fight for equality by passing this crucial legislation to ban discrimination, protect transgender rights, and resist the Trump administration’s efforts to roll back our progress. Now it’s on my colleagues in the Senate to be on the right side of history, prove they represent all of their constituents, and provide equal rights and protection to every American.
LGBTQ rights are civil rights. LGBTQ activists have never given up, they’ve organized, and brought about transformational change. But the work is far from over. Thank you Taylor Swift for being in this fight to pass the Equality Act. Thanks to all of you who have signed this petition and are fighting for change in your communities – we know that we have the power of your voices on our side. We will keep fighting until everyone can live proudly, without fear.
Elizabeth Warren
U.S. Senator, Massachusetts
Swift forayed into the political arena last October by throwing her backing to two Tennessee Democratic political candidates, The Tennessee Star reported. The first, former Gov. Phil Bredesen, lost to his Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN-07). Swift’s other endorsement, U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, had represented liberal Nashville since 2003 and was a safe bet for re-election.
Swift was quick to use her platform to viciously attack the female Senate candidate, Blackburn, by saying, “As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me.”
But is this all really about promoting equality? According to a statement by a billionaire activist, it’s about punishment.
BattleGround State News in April published an article by Monica Burke, a research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. That story is available here.
According to the story, Colorado billionaire Tim Gill, dubbed “the megadonor behind the LGBTQ rights movement” by Rolling Stone, shared that he wants to implement sexual orientation and gender identity laws as quickly and widely as possible at the state level.
Regarding supporters of traditional marriage: “We’re going into the hardest states in the country,” he said. “We’re going to punish the wicked.”
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Jason M. Reynolds has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist at outlets of all sizes.
Background Photo “Taylor Swift Petition” by Change.org.
