ABC
Earlier this year, Taylor Swift fans in Manchester, England, were dismayed to learn a cardboard cutout of the singer was in danger of being taken away. The cutout was positioned in an apartment window along the train’s route, where anyone who rode the city’s Metrolink tram line to the city center could see it.
Now “Tram Taylor,” as she’s known, will find a new home for a good cause.
Since 2017, a Manchester comedian named Red Redmond has displayed the Taylor cutout in their window. It became somewhat iconic, with Metrolink customers asking each other to “text me when you pass Taylor.”
But all that was thrown into chaos on January 4 when Redmond, who is nonbinary, tweeted that they were moving to a different city. They were promptly contacted by hundreds of people offering to adopt the cutout so it could continue to be seen by Metrolink riders. “If anything happens to Taylor I will cry,” one fan tweeted.
The BBC reports Redmond is going to auction off the cutout for charity in memory of a 16-year-old transgender girl, Brianna Ghey, who was fatally stabbed. Vigils were held in her memory across the U.K. and Ireland after her death, which Redmond said really touched them. They will donate the proceeds from the auction to Mermaids, a charity that helps gender-diverse youngsters and their families.
However, Manchester tram riders will still have a “Tram Taylor.” Even though Redmond has moved to Sheffield, they bought a second Taylor cutout and put a clause in the apartment’s tenancy agreement stipulating that whoever took over their apartment has to display it in the window, just like the original one.
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