Taylor Swift Donates $113,000 to Fight ‘Slate of Hate’ Bills in Tennessee

By Ted Johnson

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – WASHINGTON — Taylor Swift has donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project as it tries to stop state lawmakers from passing a series of bills she and others characterize as a “slate of hate.”

The donation was announced by Chris Sanders, who leads the project.

“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,” Sanders said on Facebook. The Human Rights Campaign also has been working to defeat the legislation.

In her note to the group, Swift praised the group for organizing a group of Tennessee faith leaders in a petition against the legislation.

“I’m so grateful that they’re giving all people a place to worship,” she wrote.

The legislation being considered includes ones that allow private adoption agencies to raise religious and moral objections over prospective parents, and another that prevents state and local governments from taking actions against a business based on its “internal policies.” LGBTQ groups say that such legislation would open the door to discrimination. Other legislation is aimed at transgender individuals, including one that requires the state to defend school districts that require students to use the bathroom of their assigned sex at birth.

Swift stepped into the political arena in last year’s midterms, when she endorsed Democrat Phil Bredesen’s bid for the Senate. He lost to Marsha Blackburn.