Taylor Swift has reacted joyously to news the House of Representatives voted to pass the Equality Act as she ‘crossed her fingers’ the Senate will vote the bill into law.

LGBT+ Americans moved a step closer to winning legal protection from discrimination on Thursday when the U.S. House passed the key civil rights bill backed by President Joe Biden.

By a vote of 224 to 206, the House passed the landmark Equality Act, which amends the 1964 Civil Rights Act to include sexual orientation and gender identity as protected classes in addition to race, religion, sex and national origin.

Taylor, 31, tweeted: ‘YES!!! Fingers crossed and praying that the Senate will see trans and lgbtq rights as basic human rights.

She shared a post from GLAAD which wrote: ‘BREAKING: The House has voted 224-206 to pass the #EqualityAct, which would protect LGBTQ people in areas including in housing, education, public accommodations and access to credit.’

The vote closely followed party lines, with only three Republican lawmakers supporting the bill.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people often encounter prejudice in housing, credit, jury service and public spaces, as only 22 states and the District of Columbia prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

State legislatures regularly advance laws that limit local LGBT+ protections. Since the start of the year, a dozen states have introduced or passed laws to bar trans girls from participating in girls’ sports leagues.

One of the first things Biden did after taking office was sign Executive Order 13988 which demands that measures be taken to ‘prevent and combat discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation.’

Piers Morgan explained on Thursday: ‘This sounds perfectly reasonable until you get into the weeds of the order and discover that among various recommendations, it seeks to allow transgender athletes to compete according to their gender identity, as opposed to their biological sex.

‘Specifically, it says that transgender women who have gone through male puberty should be able to compete in women’s sports. This, I’m afraid, is utter madness.

‘The majority of trans women born to male biological bodies who’ve gone through puberty are self-evidently going to be bigger, stronger, faster and more powerful than women born to female biological bodies.

‘Again, this is not me being ‘transphobic’, it’s me stating an obvious fact.

‘That’s why we have gender-specific competition in almost every sport and events like the Olympics.’ 

For the Equality Act to become law, it must win 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, where there is a 50-50 split between Democrats and Republicans.

Several Republicans have expressed their opposition, including Senator Mitt Romney of Utah, a former presidential candidate, who said he would oppose the bill unless it added a provision giving ‘strong religious liberty protections’.

Taylor first lent her massive platform to efforts promoting the passing of the Equality Act in May 2019.

At the time, Swift published a lengthy letter to her Instagram page voicing her support for the bills, referred to as H.R. 5 and S. 788, after learning that the House had, once again, voted to pass the Equality Act.

‘HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!!! While we have so much to celebrate, we also have a great distance to go before everyone in this country is truly treated equally. 

‘In excellent recent news, the House has passed the Equality Act, which would protect LGBTQ people from discrimination in their places of work, homes, schools, and other public accommodations,’ began the Grammy Award-winner in her well-intentioned post. 

For the obvious next step, which would require the bill to go before the senate, Swift informed her followers that she penned a letter to one of her local senators to ‘explain how strongly I feel that the Equality Act should be passed.’

She encouraged her fans to follow in her footsteps by writing letters to their specific senators, while also utilizing the hashtag #lettertomysenator so she could see them for herself.

After explaining the importance of ‘pushing politicians towards positive change,’ Swift announced that she launched ‘a petition at change.org to urge the Senate to support the Equality Act.’ 

Since its launch, the Swift-led petition has garnered nearly 830,000 virtual signatures, with an initial goal of 1,000,000.

Taylor continued: ‘Our country’s lack of protection for its own citizens ensures that LGBTQ people must live in fear that their lives could be turned upside down by an employer or landlord who is homophobic or transphobic.

‘The fact that, legally, some people are completely at the mercy of the hatred and bigotry of others is disgusting and unacceptable’ lamented the star, before, once again, asking her fans to sign her petition so that ‘our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally.’

In June of 2019, Swift famously dropped the music video for her anthemic hit You Need To Calm Down, which featured countless prominent members of the LGBTQ+ community, including her good pal Todrick Hall. 

The song, which was the second single off Swift’s seventh studio album Lover, includes several references to Swift’s abhorrence towards LGBTQ+ discrimination.

To conclude the music video, a bright pink title card, featuring Swift’s Equality Act petition, appeared on screen.

‘Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally,’ read the title card. 

You Need To Calm Down, which currently has nearly 240million views on YouTube, went on to win Video Of The Year at the 2019 MTV Video Music Awards.

Once again using her massive platform to advocate for equality, Taylor used her stage time – as well as her performance of the track – to inform audiences at home of the importance of the Equality Act.

‘I first want to say thank you to the fans, because in this video several points were made, so you voting for this video means that you want a world where we’re all treated equally under the law regardless of who we love, regardless of how we identify,’ began the Evermore singer as she carried her Moonperson gong in hand.

‘At the end of this video there was a petition, and there still is a petition, for the equality act which, basically, just says we all deserve equal rights under the law.

‘I want to thank everyone who signed that petition, because it now has half a million signatures which is five times the amount that it would need to warrant a response from the White House,’ she explained, before going on to thank those who participated in the music video.

LGBT+ advocates say they are confident the bill will become law because of its popularity among the American public.

An estimated 83% of Americans favour laws that would protect LGBT+ people against discrimination in jobs, public accommodation and housing, including 68% of Republicans, according to a poll by the Public Religion Research Institute.

‘In a period of such polarization, where else do you have over 80% of support for a piece of legislation?’ said Janson Wu, executive director of GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders (GLAD). 

‘This should be a “no brainer” for any legislator regardless of their party.’

The House first passed the Equality Act in 2019, but it stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate during the Trump administration, which opposed the bill. The Democrats won control of the Senate in November’s elections.

Biden is a vocal supporter of LGBT+ rights, in a clear departure from the Trump administration, which barred trans people from joining the military and issued orders emphasizing the importance of ‘biological sex’ rather than gender identity.

Since taking office in January, Biden signed an executive order that federal agencies must not discriminate against LGBT+ people and issued a memorandum aimed at protecting LGBT+ rights worldwide, including potentially through the use of sanctions.

‘Every person should be treated with dignity and respect,” Biden said in a statement when the Equality Act was introduced to the House last week.

‘This bill represents a critical step toward ensuring that America lives up to our foundational values of equality and freedom for all.’

LGBT+ advocates praised Biden’s use of the executive office but reiterated the need for comprehensive legislation.

BMW drivers have been voted the rudest motorists on Britain’s roads, followed closely by those behind the wheels of Audis.

The results come from a nationwide survey, with BMW drivers voted by 50 per cent of those polled as the most impolite, with Audis drivers garnering 28 per cent of the vote.

The rest of the top five in the ranking comprises Mercedes-Benz drivers (third, 17 per cent), Land Drover drivers (fourth, 15 per cent) and Porsche owners (fifth, 11 per cent).

On the other side of the coin, Ford drivers were voted the politest with 21 per cent of the vote, followed by Kia (16 per cent), Toyota (15 per cent) and Nissan owners (15 per cent).

The data reveals that BMW drivers are the most likely to hog the middle lane (38 per cent), brake suddenly to scare the person behind them (34 per cent), overtake (25 per cent), and not merge until the very last minute (35 per cent).

If that wasn’t rude enough, they are also considered the drivers who would honk at someone for driving too slowly (37 per cent), pip the horn as soon as the traffic lights change to green (36 per cent), give the middle finger (38 per cent), and not pull over for emergency vehicles (31 per cent).

According to the data, when it comes to the nation’s biggest driving pet peeves – braking suddenly to scare the person behind you (51 per cent), tailgating (50 per cent), not pulling over for emergency vehicles (44 per cent) and overtaking then going slowly (41 per cent) top the list.

Four in ten (40 per cent) hate to see people throw rubbish out of their window, while 39 per cent despise those who give the middle finger, according to the poll of 2,000 people by car and van insurance firm GoShorty.

Middle-lane hogging (38 per cent), parking in a disabled bay when you’re not disabled (37 per cent), driving to the front of a merge lane and then pushing in (37 per cent) and not merging in until the last minute (35 per cent) are also considered unpleasant acts when behind the wheel.

Four in ten (40 per cent) say they regularly experience rude behaviour on the country’s roads – an average of six times a week, even though more than half (58 per cent) claim to be a polite driver, suggesting a disconnect between car drivers’ attitudes and behaviours.

Two thirds (61 per cent) admit they have acted aggressively behind the wheel themselves, an average of six times a week, and three quarters (76 per cent) regret it immediately.

More than half (58 per cent) agree that the brand of car doesn’t matter and that it’s the person behind the wheel that is at fault.

Three quarters (70 per cent) think that driving is more stressful now than five years ago, with one in three (30 per cent) wishing that driving was more fun.

Aggressive drivers (48 per cent), pushy drivers (32 per cent), too much traffic (30 per cent) and rude drivers (29 per cent) are the main reasons for stepping back from driving, along with too many road works and diversions (16 per cent) and finding driving incredibly stressful (15 per cent).

A fifth (18 per cent) believe that you have to put yourself first when driving and that you have to be aggressive to get anywhere (15 per cent).

Four in ten (45 per cent) avoid driving in cities if they can, with a further half (47 per cent) admitting that city driving is a different type of driving altogether.

When it comes to where the anti-social behaviour has come from, one in three (36 per cent) have been picked up from other drivers, while 21 per cent say it has come from a parent or family member.

Seven per cent picked it up from social media, with a further four per cent blaming their driving instructor.

Aside from rude drivers, potholes (23 per cent), traffic jams (20 per cent), people not using indicators (13 per cent) and slow drivers (11 per cent) are the most irritating parts of driving.

A quarter (22 per cent) admit that they are more likely to be rude when driving someone else’s car.

Andy Moody, Founder and Managing Director of GoShorty, said: ‘Sadly, our powers cannot make the UK’s rudest drivers more considerate on the road, but we can help save you money with more efficient insurance options.’