During her acceptance speech for winning Video of the Year at the MTV Video Music Awards on Monday night, Taylor Swift called out the White House for ignoring her Equality Act petition, reported The Daily Mail .
“There still is a petition for the Equality Act, which basically says we all deserve equal rights under the law. And, I want to thank everyone who has signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures.”
“[The petition] has five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House,” the pop singer added, pretending to check her watch to emphasize how much time had passed since the petition had earned that amount of signatures.
Taylor first began circulating the petition back in May to support the Equality Act and the bill has since been passed by the House of Representatives. At the moment, it is awaiting a vote by the Senate. The Equality Act is aimed towards protecting the LGBTQ community against discrimination based on “sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity.”
The “ME!” singer first began publicly supporting the Act back in October after backing Phil Bredesen and Jim Cooper in the Tennessee midterm elections.
“I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG.”
Watching @taylorswift13 preform Lover for the first time on live TV was truly everything! #TaylorSwift #VMAs #TaylorSwiftLover #VMA #VMAS2019 pic.twitter.com/fPEEBu78T5
— Leonardo Dell’Anno (@Usualsuspectguy) August 27, 2019
The pop singer’s Monday night performance at the MTV VMAs was also politically charged, as she sang her pro-LGBTQ single “You Need to Calm Down,” which also won the Video of the Year and Video for Good awards. The performance was filled with rainbow-themed colors, costumes, and decorations while featuring drag queens, glitter, and the words Equality Act flashing up behind her during the rendition.
For the performance, Taylor wore a Versace gold bustier metallic top tucked into super-short blue shorts decorated with tiny gold sequins. She also wore a pair of fishnet stockings and ankle-high gold metallic high-heel boots. Her blonde tresses were worn loose, with her signature bangs falling across her forehead. She wore a full face of makeup, including black-lined eyes, black mascara, and bright red lips. She accessorized with gold chunky necklaces and gold bracelets.
The 29-year-old followed “You Need to Calm Down” with a calmer number, performing the album’s leading track “Lover.” She performed the song solo with a custom-made pink guitar that had the word “Lover” written across it.
Taylor’s performance of “Lover” was the first she had done in front of a large crowd since the album was released a few days ago.
