Taylor Swift knocks White House’s silence on LGBTQ rights petition during VMAs

Recording artist Taylor Swift got political during the MTV Video Music Awards Monday, calling out the White House for not acknowledging a petition that seeks equal rights for LGBTQ people.

Ms. Swift won Video of the Year for her queer-anthem, “You Need to Calm Down,” which at the end urges her fans to sign a petition urging the Senate and White House to support The Equality Act, a House-passed bill that would give LGBTQ people discrimination protections in housing, the workplace and other areas.

Since the petition’s release in June, it has received more than 5,000,000 signatures but no response from the Trump administration.

While accepting the award, surrounded by LGBTQ performers, Ms. Swift used her spotlight to remind the White House to act.

“I want to thank everyone who signed that petition because it now has half a million signatures — which is five times more than it would need to warrant a response from the White House,” she said, which she followed by tapping her wrist, seemingly telling the Trump administration it’s running out of time.

“We all deserve equal treatment under the law regardless of who we love or how we identify,” she said.

While the White House says it responds to petitions filed on its website with more than 100,000 signatures, Ms. Swift’s petition is being run off change.org, so the process could be different.

Despite this, White House deputy press secretary Judd Deere provided a response to Ms. Swift, saying the president supports equality but not in the form it’s put forward in the House-passed Equality Act.

“The Trump administration absolutely opposes discrimination of any kind and supports the equal treatment of all; however, the House-passed bill in its current form is filled with poison pills that threaten to undermine parental and conscience rights,” he said, likely referring to Republicans’ religious freedom objections.

Ms. Swift’s moment wasn’t the only political statement made during the award show.

While presenting the award for Best Latin Video, rapper French Montana and actress Alison Brie took time to slam the country’s treatment of immigrants.

“I’m so proud to pronounce [sic] this award because, as an immigrant, I feel like, we are that people that make this country, and I feel like I want to be a voice,” the rapper said.

“What’s happening to immigrants in this country is unconstitutional and frankly disgusting,” Ms. Brie said.