• Taylor Swift donated $113,000 to an LGBT rights group in Tennessee.
• The group is specifically fighting several bills that are currently floating in various stages of the state’s government and that will impact the rights of the LGBT community.

Taylor’s Donation

Pop star Taylor Swift donated $113,000 dollars on Monday to an LGBT rights group in Tennesse.

Swift’s donation was given to the Tennessee Equality Project, which fights to stop anti-LGBT legislation from passing within the state, and aims to educate the community on equality.

TEP’s Executive Director, Chris Sanders, posted news of Swift’s charitable contribution to Facebook. He thanked her for being a long-time ally and said, “she sees our struggle in Tennessee and continues to add her voice with so many good people.”

With his post, he also shared a hand-written letter Swift addressed to him, where she said she was “inspired” by TEP’s work, specifically noting their stance against the “Slate of Hate.”

Anti-LGBT Bills in Tennessee

The “Slate of Hate” Swift mentions in her letter refers to a series of bills proposed in Tennessee’s General Assembly that could negatively impact the LGBT community. TEP created “The People’s Petition Against the Slate of Hate” to fight against them.

These bills include HB1152 and HB836, which both aim to allow adoption agencies to deny services based on religious beliefs, which TEP called “state-sanctioned discrimination.”

The slate also includes HB1369, which is known as “The Tennessee Natural Marriage Defense Act.” This act defines natural marriage as between a man and a woman and allows courts to void the 2015 Supreme Court ruling that effectively legalized gay marriage.

There are also two pieces of legislation that TEP specifically believes will target the transgender community. The first being HB1151, which is an amendment to the state’s indecent exposure rules that expand it to specifically include incidents in restrooms, fitting rooms, and locker rooms. The TEP called this bill a “devious attempt to criminalize transgender and gender nonconforming people” in these settings.

Then there is also HB1274, which some refer to as the “bathroom bill.” This would require the state’s Attorney General to defend schools that mandate that students and faculty use the bathroom of their “biological sex.” This bill also just passed through Tennesee’s House on Monday.

TEP released a statement on these bills, that was also backed by over 100 religious leaders in the state, ranging from pastors to rabbis.

“As residents of Tennessee, we oppose these bills in the Tennessee General Assembly,” the statement reads. “They promote discrimination rather than justice and demean the worth of LGBTQ people in our state.  We call on people of good will to join us in speaking out for basic fairness.”

Reactions to Swift’s Donation

The “Shake it Off” singer’s donation trended online, and was met with positivity.

Ellen Degeneres tweeted her praise.

The Human Rights Campaign thanked her for supporting their “incredible partners.”

Taylor’s Past Political Actions

This hefty donation is not Swift’s first jump into Tennessee politics. Back in October, she made a long post on Instagram about her choice to use her voice for politics and endorsed Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen.

View this post on Instagram

I’m writing this post about the upcoming midterm elections on November 6th, in which I’ll be voting in the state of Tennessee. In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but due to several events in my life and in the world in the past two years, I feel very differently about that now. I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country. I believe in the fight for LGBTQ rights, and that any form of discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender is WRONG. I believe that the systemic racism we still see in this country towards people of color is terrifying, sickening and prevalent. I cannot vote for someone who will not be willing to fight for dignity for ALL Americans, no matter their skin color, gender or who they love. Running for Senate in the state of Tennessee is a woman named Marsha Blackburn. As much as I have in the past and would like to continue voting for women in office, I cannot support Marsha Blackburn. Her voting record in Congress appalls and terrifies me. She voted against equal pay for women. She voted against the Reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, which attempts to protect women from domestic violence, stalking, and date rape. She believes businesses have a right to refuse service to gay couples. She also believes they should not have the right to marry. These are not MY Tennessee values. I will be voting for Phil Bredesen for Senate and Jim Cooper for House of Representatives. Please, please educate yourself on the candidates running in your state and vote based on who most closely represents your values. For a lot of us, we may never find a candidate or party with whom we agree 100% on every issue, but we have to vote anyway. So many intelligent, thoughtful, self-possessed people have turned 18 in the past two years and now have the right and privilege to make their vote count. But first you need to register, which is quick and easy to do. October 9th is the LAST DAY to register to vote in the state of TN. Go to vote.org and you can find all the info. Happy Voting! 🗳😃🌈

A post shared by Taylor Swift (@taylorswift) on Oct 7, 2018 at 4:33pm PDT

She also encouraged her followers to head to Vote.org to register before the upcoming midterms, which lead to a surge of registrations. The site said they received 65,000 new registrations in the 24 hours after she posted, which is more than they received throughout the whole month of August.

See what others are saying: (Tennessean) (The Hollywood Reporter) (Jezebel)

• Old explicit images of actress Amanda Seyfried have resurfaced online.
• The photos were stolen from the star and released n 2017 during the second wave of celebrity nude photo leaks.
• Fans have defended Seyfried in recent days, calling for social media users to stop sharing the photos.

Photos Resurface

Explicit nude photos of actress Amanda Seyfried resurfaced on social media over the weekend, prompting fans to speak out in her defense and condemn the invasion of privacy.

Seyfried is one of several stars who had personal photos stolen and released without consent in 2017. The leak was dubbed “The Fappening 2.0” which is a reference to the first major celebrity nude photo leak that happened in 2014.

Along with Seyfried, the second wave of leaks affected stars like Emma Watson and Jillian Murray. The leaked photos of Seyfried reportedly show the actress performing a sex act on her then-boyfriend, Justin Long.

Seyfried and others have taken legal action to fight back against the invasion of privacy, but the images have been lingering on the internet for years.

Fans React

Many Twitter users make jokes about the photos, calling the actress “goals” and “iconic.”

However, the jokes outraged fans who reminded users that this is a huge invasion of privacy.

amanda seyfried is probably having THE worst moment of her life knowing that this picture will follow her for the rest of her fucking life, compromising her job as an actress and the respectability in the industry. and y’all got JOKES?! whew. the lack of humanity. tragic.

— alexi (@90sgypsy) April 7, 2019

See what others are saying: (Hollywood Life) (Celebrity Insider) (The Inquisitor)  

• Actor Omari Hardwick kissed Beyoncé on the cheek two times while greeting her at the 2019 NAACP Image Awards.
• Fans say that Beyoncé looked visibly uncomfortable during the incident and are attacking Harwick online.
• The incident sparked a conversation about respecting personal boundaries.

What Happened?

Beyoncé fans are outraged after seeing a video of actor Omari Hardwick kissing Beyoncé twice at the 50th NAACP Image awards on Saturday.

During one of the show’s commercial breaks, the “Power” actor greeted Beyonce and her husband Jay-Z. In the clip, Hardwick poses for a quick photo with Jay-Z, then goes over to Beyonce where he gives two cheek kisses.

Fans React

The clip quickly blew up on social media with fans saying that Beyoncé looked uncomfortable.

Many argued that the incident serves as another example of the types of uncomfortable situations women are put in by men who don’t respect boundaries.

Other fans have flooded Hardwicks Instagram page with bee emoji’s, to signify that they are part of the Beyhive.

Defense

Not everyone is upset at Hardwick. Several people have come to his defense saying that the kisses were harmless and are being blown out of proportion.

Despite the backlash over the seemingly uncomfortable incident, the NAACP Image Awards were a good night for both Hardwick and Beyoncé. Hardwick took home the award for best actor in a drama series, and Beyoncé won entertainer of the year.

See what others are saying (Fox News) (Cosmopolitan) (E! News)