Taylor Swift made a surprise appearance at last night’s Stonewall Inn and AEG’s pride celebration commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising during NYC’s Pride Month.
Swifts appearance before just 100 people at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, the site of the 1969 riots that launched the gay rights movement, came less than 24 hours after Swift had dropped her new single “You Need to Calm Down,” which includes shout-outs to GLAAD and the LGBT community.
Videos of Swift’s Stonewall performance and new song below.
Sports and live music company AEG used the event to pledge support to the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative’s (SIGBI) development of an LGBTQ+ anti-bias training standard in conjunction with anti-bias training experts.
The standard is designed to ensure that all people are treated equally in public spaces regardless of gender, gender expression or gender identity. This multi-phase initiative will further SIGBI’s aim to make sure that the LGBTQ+ community is welcomed everywhere. Once the standard has been developed, SIGBI’s goal is to have the training standard adopted on a local and national basis.
On June 14, AEG and SIGBI are partnering with Hawkins Mikita, Spring Place and Tie The Knot to host the first annual SIGBI Summit luncheon at Spring Place in the Soho district of New York City, which will convene prominent New York-based LGBTQ+ organizations. The panelists will include Adam Eli, co-founder of Voices4; Stacy Lentz, president and CEO of SIGBI; Gregory Lewis, Executive Director and CEO, True Colors United; Devin Norelle, a transgender advocate and Assistant Editor at Out magazine; Angelica Torres, a NY-based activist; and Emanuel Xavier, poet and Gay City News Impact Award recipient.
The purpose of the SIGBI Summit is to ensure that AEG and SIGBI have a broad understanding of the issues facing the LGBTQ+ community and to engage a wide number of LGBTQ+ organizations in a deep dialogue around the issues. Additionally, AEG, Hawkins Mikita, Spring Place and Tie The Knot will provide advice and feedback to SIGBI and the anti-bias training experts, as they develop the new training standard.
“As an owner and operator of venues, festivals, clubs and theaters around the world, AEG is committed to providing welcoming and safe spaces for all of our fans,” said Dan Beckerman, President and CEO of AEG. “As a leader in sports and live entertainment, we recognize that we have a key role to play in promoting diversity and inclusion for everyone, and we intend to continue using our voice and resources to support equity for all.”
Stacy Lentz, Co-owner the Stonewall Inn and CEO of the Stonewall Inn Gives Back Initiative, added, “The Stonewall Inn represents the very essence of a Safe Place for the LGBTQ community. Our movement was born out of a desire to be able to congregate in a place where we could truly be free to be ourselves. We are excited to work with other organizations and community leaders to raise the bar and to set a standard of exactly what that means to our LGBTQ family across the globe. We are thrilled to host the SIGBI Summit to begin the conversation to make this happen.”