‘Everyone should be able to live out their love story’: Taylor Swift shares heartfelt speech and promises to ‘always’ advocate for LGBTQ+ rights as she wins at Attitude Awards 2020
Taylor Swift was given the Icon Award at the Attitude Awards 2020, which held its first ever virtual ceremony on Tuesday.
The singer, 30, shared a heartfelt speech after receiving the prize virtually from her good friend Todrick Hall, as she promised to ‘always’ advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.
As she held her award, she said: ‘I’m really grateful for this, this is so amazing, I want to thank anyone who had a hand in deciding that I should deserve this.
‘Everyone should be able to live out their love story’: Taylor Swift shared a heartfelt speech and promised to ‘always’ advocate for LGBTQ+ rights at the Attitude Awards 2020 on Tuesday
‘Mostly I want to say thank you to the fans for giving me a platform to make music and to be vocal about things that are right and wrong.
‘I just believe very firmly that everyone should be able to live out their love story, without fear of discrimination, and the way for that to happen is for us to do that is to keep pushing governments to put protections in place for the LGBTQIA community.’
Taylor went on to share her support for the LGBTQ+ community, as she closed off her speech with the statement: ‘I promise to always advocate for that.’
Winner! Taylor was given the Icon Award, and she said: ‘I want to say thank you to the fans for giving me a platform to make music and to be vocal about things that are right and wrong’
Joining the string of ceremonies that have had to skip a glitzy bash this year and go virtual, thanks to COVID-19, the awards were hosted by comedian Tom Allen, and filmed over six days at the Camden Roundhouse – the first activity there in months.
Several guests linked in from Australia and the USA, with 14 award winners including representatives of the NHS LGBTQ community and the entire cast and director of Ryan Murphy’s Boys in the Band movie.
Entertainment on the night included live and exclusive performances from the Vamps (Married in Vegas from the number one album Cherry Blossom) and Honorary Gay award winner Paloma Faith (Better Than This from her incredible new album Infinite Things).
Ally: ‘Everyone should be able to live out their love story, without fear of discrimination,’ she said and added the public must pressure governments to protect the LGBTQ+ community
Best pals: The singer received the prize virtually from her good friend Todrick Hall
The Virgin Atlantic Attitude Awards, powered by Jaguar, were held to benefit the Attitude Magazine Foundation for LGBTQ causes, which has raised and distributed more than £250,000 since summer 2018.
Darren Styles OBE, Publisher of Attitude magazine, said: ‘This has been the most extraordinary running of the Attitude Awards, where the more usual 650 guests in black tie at the Roundhouse have been replaced with a world audience in the digital, virtual space.
’14 amazing presenters, 14 great winners and 5 roof-raising live performances have resulted in a blockbuster show that – we hope – has uplifted the watching LGBTQ community.
‘May our award winners inspire anyone, anywhere, of any age to embrace who they truly are, free to be the best that they can be.’