Final week, the New York Instances printed an op-ed on famous person Taylor Swift titled, “Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do.” In it, Instances Opinion editor Anna Marks opines that Swift is not the straight LGBTQ ally she claims to be however reasonably queer herself. Marks helps her argument by rehashing observations that followers on the r/GaylorSwift subreddit and elsewhere on the web have mentioned overtly for years.

For the reason that piece dropped, social media platforms like X and TikTok have been flooded with reactions — and by and huge, backlash. Somebody near Swift commented to CNN, saying, “Due to her huge success, on this second there’s a Taylor-shaped gap in folks’s ethics. This text would not have been allowed to be written about Shawn Mendes or any male artist whose sexuality has been questioned by followers.”

That is not precisely true; Marks, the identical author of this op-ed, wrote about Harry Kinds’s sexuality for the Instances again in 2022. The purpose stays, much more so: It is time to cease obsessing over celebrities’ sexualities.

I am saying this as somebody responsible of doing this — although I am not writing 5,000-word Instances opinion items on my theories. Perhaps as a result of I’m bisexual, I’m extra prepared and desperate to suppose somebody is queer like me primarily based on little or no: how they gown or converse or carry themselves. Conversely, as a result of I am queer, I do know that queerness is not a sure look or mannerism. There’s the rub. GLAAD reported that the variety of LGBTQ characters on streaming TV for the 2022-2023 season barely dipped from the yr prior; when queer folks lack illustration in media, they could search for it some place else.

The truth is, I am usually improper in my assumptions, particularly in the event that they’re rooted in stereotypes of the queer group (i.e. sporting cuffed denims means you are bi, or waving round pleasure flags means you are greater than an ally).

I perceive the urge to invest, which in itself is not good or dangerous. Hypothesis turns into dangerous, nevertheless, when it reaches a crescendo like this. As Swift’s affiliate advised CNN, “There appears to be no boundary some journalists will not cross when writing about Taylor, no matter how invasive, unfaithful, and inappropriate it’s — all beneath the protecting veil of an ‘opinion piece.'”

We now have a cultural obsession with celebrities, and the spillover fixation over their sexualities is a symptom of it. Plus, Swift is arguably the most-talked-about celeb proper now, off the heels of the Eras Tour and the Eras Tour film, in addition to her much-publicized relationship with Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce. Additional, all through her profession, Swift has dropped “Easter eggs” — clues, like capitalizing sure letters in her lyric ebook and portray her nails distinct colours, that trace at secret messages or what’s to return from her music — that flip followers into detectives, searching for the hidden that means in every little thing she does and says.

These components have created an ideal storm of conjecture that the largest pop star is queer however not out. Marks makes an attempt to justify her hypothesis, writing, “[T]he tales that dominate our collective creativeness form what our tradition permits artists and their audiences to say and be. Each time an artist alerts queerness and that transmission falls on deaf ears, that sign dies. Recognizing the potential of queerness — whereas being acutely aware of the distinction between risk and certainty — retains that sign alive.”

Marks is actually accusing Swift of “queerbaiting,” a time period meant for media that is been grafted onto real-life folks in recent times. Queerbaiting is when writers and producers of TV and movie tease that the present will function a canonical queer relationship however fail to ship. 

What’s Marks actually saying, right here? That Swift owes us a coming-out as a result of she “alerts queerness”? As a result of she’s dyed her hair with the colours of the bi flag and wore rainbow attire? Even when Swift is queer, popping out is not one thing to pressure or coerce. It is an act that’s purported to be on somebody’s personal phrases.

If Taylor Swift ever did come out as bi, I do know what’d occur as a bi girl myself: Individuals would scrutinize each relationship she’s had, much more so than they do now. They’d accuse her of not likely being bi due to all the lads she dated. She’d be added to the record of “bi celebrities who’ve by no means [publicly] dated somebody of the identical gender.” She’d face homophobia and biphobia the likes of which we have not seen due to her megastar standing. 

Ought to this be the case? After all not — however that is the world we dwell in. To return out in America in 2024 is to acquire way more help than one would in many years previous, sure, but additionally to face an ungodly quantity of bile.

What’s extra is that Marks feedback on the “tales that dominate our collective creativeness” with out naming one out musician that has truly dominated queer tradition the previous couple of years: Boygenius (Julien Baker, Lucy Dacus, and Phoebe Bridgers); Janelle Monáe;  MUNA; lady in crimson; Hayley Kiyoko; Fletcher; Reneé Rapp; Kehlani; and King Princess, to call just a few. We needn’t hem and haw over Swift’s sexuality when out and proud folks already make music. 

Additionally, maybe most significantly: Celebrities aren’t going to liberate us. Taylor Swift being queer would not eradicate homophobia or biphobia, nor cease the onslaught of anti-LGBTQ laws (principally geared toward trans folks) launched within the final yr. For lasting change, we have to construct group and uplift essentially the most marginalized of us.

I perceive the need for an enormous celeb — perhaps even your favourite — to be in your “staff.” To unfold rumors within the paper of file (which have already proliferated the web for years), nevertheless, is not justifiable. It’s essential to settle down.