Taylor Swift Gave a Surprise Performance at the Stonewall Inn's Pride Celebration

The summer of Taylor Swift continues. The singer dropped her anti-hate, pro-LGBTQ+ single, "You Need to Calm Down," Friday at midnight—and then dropped in on a Pride celebration at New York City's famed Stonewall Inn, where she surprised patrons with a live performance of "Shake It Off." The Stonewall Inn, of course, was the site of a police raid and subsequent rioting in 1969 that marked a catalytic point in the modern gay rights movement.

Swift brought a special guest on stage for the performance—Modern Family's Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who was serving as the event's host. "I heard that this is Jesse’s favorite song to do at karaoke,” Taylor said. “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.”

Ferguson retweeted a video clip writing, "I’m so happy I don’t have to keep this secret any longer. Look who came to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Stonewall at the Stonewall Inn. @taylorswift13, you are a gem. Thank you for everything you do for the LGBTQ community. We ❤️ you! 🌈"

Swift has definitely been more vocal in recent months about her support of LGBTQ+ rights—to the point where even the iTunes album description for her upcoming Lover mentions it: "After years of keeping her political views private, Taylor Swift is standing up and speaking out," it reads. She recently donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project, and earlier this month, she made public a letter she wrote to her senator, Tennessee Republican Lamar Alexander, in support of the Equality Act. "Let’s show our pride by demanding that, on a national level, our laws truly treat all of our citizens equally," she wrote, while also launching a petition that fans could sign to show their own support of the bill.

She also references the LGBTQ+ community in her just-released "You Need to Calm Down" with lyrics like, "Why are you mad when you could be GLAAD?" and "Control your urges to scream about all the people you hate / ’Cause shade never made anybody less gay." Swift's aesthetic for Lover also features a lot of rainbows, the symbol of the LGBTQ+ community.

A ton of her fans were super-pumped about her surprise performance, especially given the Pride context, as some noted.

"We need allies. I know some people are up in arms about Taylor Swift’s new song + appearance tonight at Stonewall Inn," one user tweeted. "But she’s arguably the biggest pop star on the planet. I just think we need to remember what a growth arc she’s had over the past few years. I applaud her."

Others had a more critical view of the event, however: They feel Swift might be trying to leverage Pride and places like Stonewall to market her latest output. "She jumped on the bandwagon of commercializing Pride only when it was safe to do so," one wrote. "Where was she five years ago? Ten? No Taylor Swift stan owns an album by an lgbt artist or even knows what GLAAD is, but now Tay Tay threw the first brick at Stonewall. No. Just no. Cash grab."

No matter which side you come down on, there's one thing we can all agree on: The release of a new Taylor Swift project is never dull.

Originally Appeared on Glamour