Taylor Swift reveals Todrick Hall inspired her to 'clarify' stance on LGBTQ+ issues

9 August 2019, 12:23

Nicky Idika

By Nicky Idika

In a recent Taylor Swift Vogue interview, she revealed how her friend Todrick Hall inspired her to speak out more about LGBTQ+ issues.

Taylor Swift nabbed the highly coveted cover of Vogue's September issue and, in the magazine interview, she gets real about a number of topics. She discusses her past as "America's Sweetheart", being publicly shamed after the Kimye debacle, and how a conversation with Todrick Hall convinced her to be more vocal about LGBTQ+ issues.

Taylor Swift used to be notoriously tight lipped about her social and political beliefs. Speaking with Vogue, Taylor revealed that when Todrick Hall asked her what she would do if her son was gay, she knew she had to be more vocal about her support of the LGBTQ+ community.

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"Maybe a year or two ago, Todrick and I are in the car, and he asked me, 'what would you do if your son was gay?'" she began. "The fact that he had to ask me shocked me and made me realise that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough.

"If my son was gay, he’d be gay. I don’t understand the question. If he was thinking that, I can’t imagine what my fans in the LGBTQ community might be thinking.

"It was kind of devastating to realise that I hadn’t been publicly clear about that."

Taylor and Todrick are longtime friends and he has appeared in her music videos for "Look What You Made Me Do" and "You Need To Calm Down".

This past June, for Pride month, Taylor penned an open letter to Republican Senator Lamar Alexander urging him to support the Equality Act, which would ensure protections against discrimination for members of the LGBTQ+ community.

"Our country’s lack of protection for its own citizens ensures that LGBTQ people must live in fear that their lives could be turned upside down by an employer or landlord who is homophobic or transphobic," she wrote on Instagram back in June. "The fact that, legally, some people are completely at the mercy of the hatred and bigotry of others is disgusting and unacceptable."

The Vogue profile also points out that Taylor donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project back in April.