Kim Petras is "thankful" to Taylor Swift for flying the flag for the LGBTQ+ community on ‘You Need To Calm Down’.
The 29-year-old singer recently featured a number of stars from the community – including singer Hayley Kiyoko, YouTuber Hannah Hart, Olympic figure skater Adam Ripper, and ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ star Todrick Hall – in her music video for the song on her new LP ‘Lover’, and has said her decision to do so came as she wanted to be more vocal about her support for the community.
And now transgender star Kim, 26, has applauded the pop superstar for being "brave" enough to use her huge platform to speak out to the large percentage of her fans who are straight.
Kim told the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column: "Taylor Swift’s fan base is so mainstream and so middle America, where it’s not as progressive as some other parts.
"It’s great that she is spreading that message to her fans who maybe don’t have gay friends.
"I am thankful to her for doing that as part of the LGBTQ community."
Taylor recently admitted she feels she needs to do more for the LGBTQ+ community after a conversation she had which made her realise she hadn’t been "loud and clear" about her position.
She said: "Maybe a year or two ago, Todrick and I are in the car, and he asked me, ‘What would you do if your son was gay?’
"The fact that he had to ask me … shocked me and made me realise that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough. [I told him] ‘If my son was gay, he’d be gay. I don’t understand the question.’
"If he was thinking that, I can’t imagine what my fans in the LGBTQ community might be thinking. It was kind of devastating to realise that I hadn’t been publicly clear about that."
The ‘Love Story’ hitmaker admitted she "didn’t realise" she was able to "advocate for a community" she isn’t part of, and said she had refrained from being "loud" about her support for the community because she was afraid of "making a mistake".
She added: "Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male. I didn’t realise until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc."
Although the ‘ME!’ singer is being more vocal about her support now, she has supported from the sidelines for a number of years, having donated to a fund for the Stonewall National Monument, presented a GLAAD Media Award to Ruby Rose, and dedicated a song on her ‘Reputation’ tour to openly gay dancer Love Fuller.
And just last year, she slammed Republican politician Marsha Blackburn – who was running for Senate in Tennessee – for being against marriage equality.
She said at the time: "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."
Kim Petras praises ‘brave’ Taylor Swift for support of LGBTQ+ community
