Pride Month: Taylor Swift makes surprise appearance at Stonewall Inn in New York

Taylor Swift performed a surprise gig in New York at the Stonewall Inn as part of their Pride celebrations commemorating 50 years since the Stonewall Uprising.

Swift appeared at the historic venue at the request of actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who joined her on stage for an acoustic rendition of “Shake it Off”.

“I heard that this is Jesse’s favorite song to do at karaoke,” she began. “So if there’s anything you feel like you want to jump in on, if there’s like, your part that you’re really good at, then, just sing, dance, just be yourself. This is a really safe space.”

The event was co-hosted by Diva Jackie Dupree and included performances by Sara Bareilles, Gavin Creel, Lea DeLaria, VINCINT and more.

Swift's performance comes after the release of her new single “You Need to Calm Down”, which gives a subtle shout-out to the LGBT+ charity GLAAD and asks people with bigoted views to “calm down” because “shade never made anyone less gay”.

Swift has recently become more vocal in her support of the LGBT+ community – in April she donated $130,000 to an LGBTQ advocacy group in Tennessee and wrote an open letter telling its organisers how inspired she was by their work.

“I’m writing you to say that I’m so inspired by the work you do, specifically in organising the recent petition of Tennessee faith leaders standing up against the ‘Slate of Hate’ in our state legislature,” Swift said.

“Please convey my heartfelt thanks to them and accept this donation to support the work you and those leaders are doing. I’m so grateful that they’re giving all people a place to worship.”

On 1 June, the first day of Pride Month, Swift wrote an open letter to Tennessee’s Republican Senator Lamar Alexander in support of the Equality Act, an expansion of the Civil Rights Act that prohibits employers from discriminating against anyone because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.

Earlier this week, she announced that her new album, Lover, will be released on 23 August