Taylor Swift Supports Tennessee LGBTQ Advocacy Group With $113,000 Donation

Taylor Swift, who launched her superstar career in Tennessee, has made a six-figure donation to an LGBTQ advocacy group in the state that is fighting a series of bills targeting LGBTQ individuals. Among them: one that would allow adoption agencies to discriminate against same-sex couples.

Swift accompanied her $113,000 donation to the Tennessee Equality Project — a figure that notably includes Swift’s signature number 13 — with a handwritten note to the organization’s executive director Chris Sanders. “I’m so inspired by the work you do, specifically in organizing the recent petition of Tennessee faith leaders against the ‘slate of hate’ in our state legislature,” she wrote. “I’m so grateful that they’re giving all people a place to worship.”

The singer-songwriter has become increasingly vocal in social and political issues. In October, she endorsed a pair of Tennessee Democrats in the November midterm elections with a lengthy post on Instagram, writing “I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is wrong.” While one of Swift’s endorsed candidates, Tennessee senate hopeful Phil Bredesen, lost his race against Republican Marsha Blackburn, Swift’s post resulted in 65,000 people registering to vote in a 24-hour period.

The Tennessee Equality Project’s Sanders praised Swift’s donation in his own post: “Taylor Swift has been a long-time ally to the LGBTQ community. She sees our struggle in Tennessee and continues to add her voice with so many good people, including religious leaders, who are speaking out for love in the face of fear.”