Taylor Swift To Receive The Vanguard Award At 2020 GLAAD Awards
You may need to calm down after hearing this news: Taylor Swift will receive the Vanguard Award at the 2020 GLAAD Media Awards. The award is given to allies who have helped promote acceptance of the LGBTQ+ community in their work. In 2019, Swift released the queer anthem “You Need To Calm Down,” which included the line, “Why are you mad?/When you could be GLAAD?”
“From boldly standing up against anti-LGBTQ elected officials to shining attention on the urgent need to protect LGBTQ people from discrimination through the Equality Act, Taylor Swift proudly uses her unique ability to influence pop culture to promote LGBTQ acceptance,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a statement.
At the end of the “You Need To Calm Down” video, which featured queer icons like Queer Eye’s Fab Five, Swift included a petition for the Equality Act, which would protect members of the LGBTQ+ community from discrimination. “In a time of political and cultural division,” Kate Ellis continued, “Taylor creates music that unites and calls on her massive fan following to speak up and call for change.”
Previous Vanguard winners include Beyoncé and Jay-Z, Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Cher, and Demi Lovato.
The 31st Annual GLAAD Media Awards take place April 16.
