Glass Closet
Action speaks louder than words, so let’s not forget that Taylor Swift once followed a girl on Tumblr who had a penchant for posting erotic lesbian gifs. Taylor made the mistake of actually liking one such gif. You could go on and on about the little codes that she puts in her lyrics but then you would have people accuse you of making conjecture. I find it symbolic that X (née Twitter) deactivated the likes section in pride month, albeit well into June so that it wasn’t obvious. In my eyes, it was too obvious because this was four months after Anna Marks wrote an op-ed article for the New York Times where she deciphered Taylor’s sexual orientation like Tom Hanks in The Da Vinci Code. The NY Times would not have published it if there wasn’t truth to what Anna was writing. It’s like when Penthouse agreed to publish Albert Goldman’s articles about Bruce Lee in 1983.
Although people call the article disturbing, I’m more perturbed by the reactions that are vehemently against the article (which was titled Look What We Made Taylor Do). Taylor Swift has straight female fans who identify with her because of her lyrics. Nostalgia is not a fickle mistress. Taylor also has many male fans who like to think that they could score with her because of the numerous men that she has been associated with on a seemingly romantic level. As a mainstream lyricist, it’s your job to have people identify with you. Anna Marks was accused of being invasive by a mysterious associate of Taylor, but I think that “invasive” describes the intimate nature of an interviewer. It’s the difference between making sense of what someone has given you and wanting that person to give you something. As long as Taylor dresses the part and writes suggestive lyrics, she will be the gift that keeps on giving.
The paparazzi are way more intrusive. Taylor Swift is smart enough to realize that the best way to come out of the closet is to do it in a way where she could be accused of queerbaiting or even satirical, but then she’s always been calculative…even right down to being politically ambiguous like Metallica’s James Hetfield once was. If Taylor is so offended by having her sexual orientation mislabelled then she should have taken a leaf from master spy Tom Cruise, but even he wasn’t being encouraged to parade himself as a kiss-and-tell bachelor who is available to all the ladies. Longevity means more. There was a gossip site called The Velvet Rope where insiders discussed happenings within the music industry. Its Nashville page had a lot of gossip about the effort to keep Taylor in the closet. Fast-forward to 2023, and she personally approved for her song Seven to be included as the backdrop for an emotional lesbian scene in Heartstopper.
There were many virtue-signalling white knights who wanted to come to Taylor Swift’s rescue by proclaiming that her sexual identity is none of our business, but Taylor makes it our business with her lyrics and presentation. Even before her queer hint-dropping, she allowed herself to be photographed with many single guys. If she was so good-looking and talented, she wouldn’t need to be seen with famous guys. She would have let the music and stage performances speak for themselves. Katy Perry isn’t as psycho-analyzed as Taylor despite having actually written a song called I Kissed a Girl. Homophobia didn’t stop Katy from achieving success, but many think that Taylor might suffer from biphobia from lesbians if she came out as bisexual. Given that both singers were at loggerheads with one another, too many people would suggest literally kissing and making up. Doing a duet would be like Madonna kissing Britney Spears.
The best way to hide your sexuality is to keep all interactions unisexual in a group format as opposed to going from one extreme to the other like what Taylor Swift did. She came up with a flimsy excuse as to why she made herself an advocate for the LGBT community, but then she could have made herself a chameleon by making herself a champion for black lives matter. She could have gone out of her way to do a stage performance with exclusively black artists or make a music video where being black is the theme. Besides that 2018 episode of E! News: Daily Pop where Taylor was subtly being outed by the three hosts, there are other clues that she is a lady lover. The cast list of her music video, You Need to Calm Down, exclusively consists of celebrities who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transsexual. Speaking of the latter, if Taylor wrote a memoir then it would be less honest than Elliot Page’s memoir: Pageboy.
Taylor Swift coming out of the closet after denying her sexual affiliation would be like Ellen Page going from announcing herself as “gay” to transitioning genders. Page set back lesbians a few years back with the latter announcement, and unintentionally set up Taylor for a punchline if she were to come out of the closet. If Taylor didn’t want people speculating on her love life then she should have focused on writing asexual lyrics that anyone can relate to. Despite the infamy that came from her article, Anna Marks didn’t get sued. The song, Teardrops on my Guitar (from Taylor’s eponymous debut album), had an unreleased demo version that did not include male pronouns or the name Drew. I'm reminded of 'Til Tuesday's Aimee Mann having to change the pronouns of a song called Voices Carry. The rule of the showbiz game is that you get more publicity for what you hide than what you confide.
As for why she has had a ridiculous number of boyfriends, it’s just to stop certain kinds of men from wanting to proposition her. If she came out as a lesbian, that wouldn’t stop men from flirting with her given her “heterosexual” past. Miley Cyrus indirectly outed Taylor by claiming that her own bisexuality was made obvious in a photo where she was walking alongside Taylor and Demi Lovato (who’s bisexual). Some of the promo art for Taylor’s 1989 album was similar to Am I The Same Girl by bisexual Dusty Springfield. Both women released albums called Reputation. Also, it was a lesbian country singer (Melissa Etheridge) who inspired Taylor to become a guitarist. For those doubters who still shake their head, not once in the MySpace era did Taylor Swift use the internet to romantically talk about guys. She was all about female companionship. You want a deep dive? Nothing can prepare you for this rabbit hole.