Chapter Text
Debut to 1989 Eras
- Taylor has spoken about growing up in the 90s admiring out lesbian Melissa Etheridge, and how one of Melissa's concerts helped inspire her to become a musician.
- Since 2008, Taylor has appeared multiple times on Ellen, hosted by Ellen Degeneres. In 2008, she also positively mentioned Ellen on her MySpace bio.
- In 2011, the Mean music video involved a gay-coded boy being bullied for his interest in fashion but going on to work for a magazine. Taylor said in interviews (apologies for the poor quality clip, I am struggling to source the original full interview) both that she had the idea for the character, and that it was an idea she was familiar with. Her heavy pauses during discussion indicate that the 'fashion in fashion' and "not interested in the same things other guys are interested in" makes it very clear that she is aware of the gay coding that she is using, and for someone still in country music (still only a year after Chely Wright came out) it was still pretty daring to gay code. Having an explicitly gay storyline would have been unthinkable. But nonetheless, in the array of experiences which Taylor chose to tie to Mean - which was based on her own feelings - she deliberately included a gay one.
- 1989, released October 27th 2014, opened with Welcome to New York which includes the lyrics "you can want who you want, boys and boys and girls and girls" when talking about the positive aspects of the city. When later asked about the lyrics, she explained that it was a celebration of the fact that gay marriage was legal in New York.
- On 1989, she also includes a song called New Romantics, named after an era of pop music which included people who deliberately broke gender expression and sexuality boundaries. Taylor said in interview that she loved how the new romantic era would have people "act how you want to act, love who you want to love". (I am trying to source a good quality copy of this quote outside of compilation videos.)
- In November 2015, in China, fans started chanting "Kaylor" and showed pictures of Taylor and Karlie's hairstyles made of lights with the word Kaylor between them. Video, alternate link. Taylor did not look angry or upset - she smiled, let the fans chant for a while, then said " 我爱你" ["I love you", with singular you] as the crowd cheered.
- On April 27th 2016, Taylor made a surprise appearance at the GLAAD Awards to present an award to Ruby Rose. Her introductory speech included the line, "she tells the world that no-one can judge us, and no-one can stop us".
Reputation Era
- As part of the reputation magazines, Taylor included the poem If you're anything like me. One of the lines was "If you're anything like me, you've grown to hate your pride".
- On January 12th 2018, the music video for End Game released, and Taylor's outfits included an Ashish rainbow sequin dress.
- In March 2018, when Hayley Kiyoko pointed out double standards about executives asking why she was singing about women "again", Taylor Swift came to her support.
- In May 2018, Taylor released an ad with Direct TV which featured her wearing a rainbow sweater and shorts and riding a caticorn with a rainbow horn.
- Throughout the reputation tour (May 18th 2018 to November 21st 2018), Taylor dedicated every performance of Dress to Loie Fuller, an openly lesbian pioneer of modern dance and especially the use of Isis Wings. For the majority of nights, Taylor performed in a rainbow dress, but alternate costumes included one in shades of pink and orange (like the lesbian pride flag), one in blue/purple/pink (like the bisexual pride flag) and one in blue/silver-lilac/pink (like either the bisexual pride flag or the trans pride flag). (There was also a blue/pink/orange one which she described as her "Tide Pod" dress.)
- On June 2nd 2018, in Chicago and while wearing the rainbow dress she wore for her performances of Delicate, Taylor gave an impassioned speech for Pride month - but a lot of places don't report the first half of the speech. In full, Taylor spoke about herself as well as about pride, implicitly linking the concepts of her confessional songwriting, coming out, and being queer.
"I’ve been writing songs since I was 12, my songwriting has a lot of the time been called confessional songwriting, which I think is really accurate. And the reason that my songwriting has stayed confessional, stayed about my real life and my real feelings, even when my life has gotten bigger in a sense – more written about, more speculated upon, I’ve still kept writing songs about my actual life, and that’s because you guys seem to care about my actual life. And I appreciate that so much. And in my opinion, I happen to feel that being vulnerable and being honest about how you feel and saying how you feel is really brave.
It’s very brave to be vulnerable about your feelings in any situation, but it’s even more brave to be honest about your feelings and who you love when you know that it might be met with adversity from society. This month and every month I want to send my love and respect to everybody who has been brave enough to be honest about how they feel, to live their lives as they are, as they feel they should be, as they identify. This is a month where I think we need to celebrate how far we’ve come, but I think we also need to acknowledge how far we still have left to go. I want to send my love and respect out to everybody who in their journey, in their life hasn’t felt comfortable enough to come out yet … and may you do that on your own time and may we end up in a world where everyone can live and love equally and no one has to be afraid to be vulnerable and say how they feel. Because when it comes to feelings and when it comes to love and searching for someone to spend your whole life with … it’s all just really, really delicate."
- On June 22nd 2018, Taylor talked about members of the crowd bringing signs that said "Proud". (Video, first part is of this, people are screaming and shouting in the foreground. Mostly captioned.) She sounded happy and a little overwhelmed.
"Thank you for everyone who decided to bring those signs that you guys all have, it's crazy. There's so many of these! How did you even do that? [Inaudible] I love you so much. I love you so... I don't even know. You know when you don't know... what to say? Cause... that happened?"
- On September 9th 2018, Taylor was reported as saying to a meet and greet fan, "Don’t ever let them make you feel like being gay is different - it’s no different from being straight, and obviously you’re on the right side. Walk with your head high."
Lover Era
- In April 2019, Taylor donated $113,000 to the Tennessee Equality Project (TEP) with a handwritten note which included, "I'm so inspired by the work you do".
- On April 26th, the first album single Me! dropped. In it, Taylor performed with Brendon Urie, who came out as pansexual in July 2018. The music video premiered the same day, and was filled with camp, and with references to musical theatre. During one scene, two male dancers kiss in the background. Taylor's post about the music video opened with "ME! Out now!" and it was released on Lesbian Visibility Day.
- In Miss Americana, released January 31st 2020, a behind the scenes clip shows Taylor describing this video as "Whatever makes you, you. Emo kids, theater, dance sequences, La La Land, everything" [Brendon: "Nailed it!"] "And when it's like me-e-e, it's like dancers, cats, gay pride, people in country western boots, I start riding a unicorn. Just - everything that makes me, me." In other words, Taylor explicitly links gay pride to her sense of self and confirms that this song, as well as YNTCD, was linked to gay pride.
- On May 2nd, Taylor and Brendon performed together at the Billboard Music Awards, both wearing rainbow outfits.
- On May 9th, Taylor appeared on the cover of Entertainment Weekly wearing a large number of pin badges. All were Easter Eggs or references, but only most were explained inside - two were left without comment. One was a rainbow heart pin, which could very easily be considered a pride pin.
- On June 1st, Taylor tweeted a letter to her senators in support of the Equality Act. It included the phrase "let's show our pride".
- On June 2nd, at Wango Tango, Taylor performed in full rainbow getup and spoke in support of the Equality Act. The lighting behind her was shades of pink and orange, as generally seen in the lesbian pride flag. She thanked people in another tweet which included "like a rainbow with all of the colours", lyrics from ME!.
- On June 14th, the album Lover was released, including the song You Need to Calm Down which featured one verse about cyberbulling, one verse about queerphobia, and one verse about misogyny.
- On June 15th, Taylor appeared at the Stonewall Inn, something which the venue almost never grants to non-LGBTQ individuals. She again spoke in support of the Equality Act, this time saying, "let's show our pride" [emphasis mine].
- On June 17th, the music video for You Need to Calm Down was released; in contrast to the song, the video focuses entirely on the queerphobia aspect. In it, Taylor burns down her own caravan before entering a trailer park inhabited almost entirely (with the exception of Ciara) by openly LGBTQ+ celebrities. She is alongside the queer celebrities as they are besieged by (and ignore) protestors. When she reclines in an aqua pool dressed in pink and yellow, she forms the pansexual flag (not seen elsewhere in the video), and her hair is later dyed blue, purple and pink and appears to be the bisexual pride flag. She teased the song on twitter using the lyrics "Can you just not step on our gowns?"
- On June 18th, in an interview with Elvis Duran, Taylor said,
"I feel like there's so many of my loved ones, and friends, and fans, who... you know, they're in the LGBTQ community and they have to go through life either being verbally, vocally judged and criticized or wondering if the people around them are silently judging them or, or wondering if the people around them are just tolerating the way that they are. And I think that's really unfair, and I just wanted to make it known to everyone around me and my loved ones, and my fans, and my friends, and my colleagues, like I don't just tolerate the way you are, I celebrate the way that you are."
- On August 3rd, Taylor posted a picture of blue, purple and pink heart-shaped rice krispie cookies which she had made for her secret sessions. Obviously the heart shape is a link to the Lover era, but it was also noted that blue/purple/pink is the colour of the bisexual pride flag.
- On August 5th, Taylor posted another picture, this one a rainbow-filtered image of her hand as she wears a number of bracelets made for her by a secret session-goer. The visible bracelets spell out the names of two of her cats and two of her albums - and near the center, facing the camera, is a bracelet with beads in the bisexual flag colours saying "proud".
- On August 26th, on winning Video of the Year Award at the VMAs, Taylor again spoke about the Equality Act and said, "you voting for this video means you want a world where we’re all treated equally under the law, regardless of who we love, or how we identify". While this use of 'we' could simply be stating that non-heterosexual people should have the same rights as heterosexual people, it would be unusual for a straight ally to frame themselves as part of the community in this way.
- On September 9th, in the City of Lover performance in Paris, rainbow lights panned across the audience
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On September 18th, Taylor did an interview with Rolling Stone in which she said "I didn’t realise until recently that I could advocate for a community I’m not a part of". This is used by some as proof of her heterosexuality - but she never uses the word heterosexual, or the word ally. She talks about "anyone who is not a straight, cis, white man" - but she is white, and is not a cis man, meaning she is both inside and outside this community at once. And if we can only advocate for communities we are a part of, then advocating is placing ourselves in that community - in other words, to support LGBTQ+ rights would be an automatic way of coming out.
- In the same interview, she also said "the second verse is about homophobes and people picketing outside our concerts", which is once again using 'our' in a curious way.
- In Miss Americana, the two main reasons that Taylor gives to her father for wanting to come out as Democratic are women's rights (e.g. anti-stalking laws) and LGBTQ+ rights.
folklore/evermore Era
- On June 1st 2021, for Pride Month, Taylor posted on Twitter about Pride Month, thanking "activists, advocates and allies". It is very unusual for allies to thank other allies, as the point of Pride Month is for it to be centered on LGBTQ+ individuals. Moreover, Taylor did not say 'fellow allies' or group herself in with the allies that she thanks, suggesting that she considers herself separate despite everything she had said and done in the previous year.
- On June 3rd 2021, a fan tweeted a picture of themselves with their evermore vinyls and rainbow heart stickers, saying "HAPPY PRIDE MONTH!🏳️🌈 #evermorealbumVinyl", to which Taylor tweeted back "FANTASTIC PICTURE!! Love seeing you smile like that! Happy Pride Month to you too! 🏳️🌈". This is significant because the fan was not wishing Taylor a happy Pride in particular, and the use of "to you too" implies a reciprocal, and would suggest that Taylor herself celebrates and has a reason to celebrate pride.
- In May 2022, when Hayley Kiyoko went public with her relationship with Becca Tilley, she stated that Taylor had been one of the first to know.
Support of and Performances With LGBTQ+ Performers
(*indicates working with individuals who were publicly closeted at the time but who may have been out to their friends and family, or who may have had rumours.)
- *Very early in her career, perhaps 2004-5, Taylor co-wrote the song Thinkin' Bout You with Chely Wright. Note this is before Wright came out.
- Red Tour
- *On March 28th, 2013, Taylor was joined on stage by the Neon Trees. Lead singer Tyler Glenn came out as gay in early 2014.
- On July 13th 2013, Taylor was joined on stage by Fall Out Boy, of whom two members (Patrick Stump and Pete Wentz) are out as bisexual
- On August 20th 2013, Taylor was joined on stage by Tegan and Sara to perform Closer. Taylor spoke about how the album from which the song came, Heartthrob, was one she loved - Heartthrob was the first Tegan and Sara song which explicitly used female pronouns.
- On September 21st 2013, Taylor was joined on stage by Rascal Flatts (for whom she had opened during her debut era). Rascal Flatts are known for their 2009 song anthem "Love Who You Love" which was taken on by LGBTQ+ fans as a pro-equality song.
- *On February 2nd 2014, Taylor was joined on stage by Sam Smith. Smith came out as gay in 2014, and as nonbinary and using they/them pronouns in 2019.
- *On February 10th 2014, Taylor was joined on stage by Emili Sandé. Emilie Sandé would publicly confirm she was in a relationship with a woman in 2022, but did not express a preference for a label at the time. From 2005-2014 she was in a relationship with and married a man.
- 1989 Tour
- On July 10th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by the US Women's Soccer National Team. The team included Abby Wamback (lesbian, married in 2013), Megan Rapinoe (lesbian, came out in 2012), *Ali Krieger and *Ashlyn Harris (came out as dating each other in 2019), *Christen Press and * Tobin Heath (came out as dating a woman in 2022), *Kelley O'Hara (came out by kissing her girlfriend post-match in 2019). In other words, out of 23 players, 2 were out at the time and 5 have come out since.
- On July 19th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by trans supermodel Andreja Pejic (and model Lily Donaldson).
- *On July 24th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Walk the Moon. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca came out as bisexual in 2020
- *On August 14th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Fifth Harmony. Lauren Jaregui came out as bisexual in 2016
- On August 15th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Joan Baez and Julia Roberts. Baez spoke in 1973 about having had relationships with women; Roberts has never made a statement on her sexuality but is a strong supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
- On August 24th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Ellen DeGeneres.
- On August 24th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Alanis Morrissette. Morrissette had discussed having relationships with women as early as 2004.
- On August 25th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Beck and St. Vincent. St. Vincent came out as considering gender and sexuality to be fluid in 2014.
- On August 26th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Lisa Kudrow, who played F.R.I.E.N.D.S. character Phoebe Buffay. Phoebe is generally considered to be bisexual as she has acknowledged relationships with women, even though the word was not used in the TV show.
- On September 25th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Steven Tyler, who has spoken about identifying with male and female genders.
- On September 26th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Mick Jagger, who has never claimed a label but who is known to have had a relationship with David Bowie
- On October 24th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Tove Lo, who has been out as queer since the beginning of her career and currently uses the label bisexual
- On October 27th 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Ricky Martin. Martin came out in his 2011 memoir.
- *On October 31st 2015, Taylor was joined onstage by Alessia Cara to perform Here. Cara has never commented on her sexuality, but in an interview with Gay Times said "sexuality is just part of who you are, you don’t need to be labelled as anything".
- reputation Tour
- On May 19th 2018, Taylor was joined on stage by Troye Sivan, who came out as gay in 2013
- On September 29th 2018, Taylor was joined on stage by Hayley Kiyoko to sing Curious
- On December 5th 2018, Taylor performed with Hayley Kiyoko at the Ally Coalition Talent Show in New York.
- On May 9th 2019, in her interview with Entertainment Weekly, Taylor spoke about
- Her appreciation of Lady Gaga (who came out as bisexual in 2010 as is well known for Born This Way)
- Phoebe Waller-Bridge and her work Fleabag, whose lead character came out as bisexual in March 2019
- King Princess, nonbinary lesbian, whose music she called "romantic" and "nostalgic"
- Lana del Rey, who has never commented on her own sexuality, but whose song Carmen is well known for having people of all genders attracted to the subject of the song
- Tayla Parx, an openly bisexual singer-songwriter whose songs have been in the charts
- Sally Rooney, specifically the book Conversations With Friends whose main character is a bisexual woman
- Killing Eve, whose queer female love story made it beloved of femslashers everywhere
- Won't You Be My Neighbour?, a biopic about Mister Rogers; the biopic gave a nod to the question of Rogers' sexuality, but in fact a 2015 biography discussed conversations in which he said "I have found women attractive, and I have found men attractive", strongly implying that he was bi+.
- Alanis Morissette, who had discussed having relationships with women as early as 2004
- The Chicks (then under former name Dixie Chicks), who are open about having a large lesbian following and make considerable contributions to LGBTQ+ causes
- Britney Spears, who nodded to same-gender attraction in If You Seek Amy (2008) who has long been an LGBTQ+ ally
In fact, the only pop culture influences which she made which were not queer or tied to queer culture were Drake, Ciara (who is pro-gay rights and appeared in the YNTCD music video) and Dermot Kennedy who is extremely private.
- On November 24th 2019, Taylor was joined on stage by Halsey (out as bisexual since at least 2018) to perform Shake it Off [Camila Cabello also present]
- Taylor's 30th birthday party included guests such as Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski and boyfriend Kevin Harrington, Halsey
- On March 5th 2020, Fletcher (out as queer since the beginning of her career) and Niall Horan produced a cover of Lover, which Taylor complimented on Instagram.
- In October 2021, on an Instagram Live, Fletcher stated that her song lyric "sipped her like an old fashioned" was inspired by a moment at Taylor's 30th birthday party where Taylor had been drinking an old fashioned, a 'man's drink', which Fletcher had found "hot".
- On June 19th 2020, Taylor tweeted about the Netflix original documentary Disclosure, about trans experiences in and relation to Hollywood
- On April 30th 2021, Taylor posted on Instagram about the new album of girl in red, a band so infamously for and about queer women that "does she listen to girl in red?" has become internet code for "is she queer?" It was later also revealed that Taylor had sent emails to girl in red, and done paintings for her that included daisies.
- On December 6th 2021, Taylor posted on Instagram about the new double-single by Halsey
Use of Taylor's songs in Queer Media
(Remember, as writer or cowriter on every single song in her discography, Taylor has to okay every use of her music in media. Billboard has reported that her brother Austin is involved in the handling of requests. Bolded lines include the songs being used on specifically queer scenes.)
- In April 2018, Taylor's song Gorgeous was in the TV series Druck (also known as SKAM Germany), a franchise well-known for including LGBTQ+ characters
- In May 2019, Taylor's song Welcome to New York was in the TV series The Bold Type, whose main character realises she is bisexual in the first season
- In January 2020, Taylor's song Lover was in the TV series The Bold Type
- In February 2020, Taylor's song Welcome to New York was in the TV series Katy Keene, which features a drag queen as a major character
- In May 2021, Taylor's song Shake it Off was in the TV series Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist, which features a major genderfluid character
- In June 2021, Taylor's song invisible string was in the TV series Good Witch, over a date between Joy and Zoey
- In November 2021, five of Taylor's songs were in the TV series The Summer I Turned Pretty, which has a major supporting character (Jeremiah) who is bisexual
- In November 2021, Taylor's song this is me trying was included in the TV series Gossip Girl, a series which has a large number of LGBTQ+ characters and a polyamorous throuple
- In December 2021, Taylor's song ivy was included in the TV series Dickinson, during a love scene between Emily and Sue
- In May 2022, Taylor's song epiphany was included in the TV series The Wilds, a series which includes a number of wlw characters and relationships