Taylor Swift Amy Sussman/Getty Images for dcp
Taylor Swift was the center of a recent The New York Times opinion piece, where editors speculated that the singer is a closeted member of the LGBTQIA+ community.
Swift, 34, has never previously come out as queer, often referring to herself as a “straight ally” of the community. Now, her inner circle has clapped back at the recent op-ed speculating on her sexuality. (The New York Times’ essay attempted to string together “hairpins” of LGBTQIA+ references from Swift’s music and performances that seemingly indicate her sexuality.)
“Because of her massive success, in this moment there is a Taylor-shaped hole in people’s ethics,” one of Swift’s associates told CNN on Saturday, January 7. “This article wouldn’t have been allowed to be written about Shawn Mendes or any male artist whose sexuality has been questioned by fans.”
The individual, who requested anonymity in the conversation, further called out the “invasive, untrue, and inappropriate” claims about Swift. (The Times has not further commented on the backlash to their editorial. Us Weekly has reached out for comment.)
Throughout Swift’s musical career, her relationship status has made headlines. In a prologue for her 1989 (Taylor’s Version), Swift noted that she started only hanging out with her female friends to stop the chatter about whom she was dating at the time.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during ‘The Eras Tour’ on August 3, 2023 in Inglewood, California. Emma McIntyre/TAS23/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management
“And so I swore off hanging out with guys. Dating, flirting, or anything that could be weaponized against me by a culture that claimed to believe in liberating women but consistently treated me with the harsh moral codes of the Victorian era,” she wrote in the album introduction, which was released in October 2023. “I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships.”
She added, “If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn’t sensationalize or sexualize that right? I would learn later on that people could and people would.”
Several social media users and Swift’s fans would see the photos of the Grammy winner and her “squad” and speculate that she was in a secret same-sex relationship. At the time, Swift never addressed the rumors.
Taylor Swift performs onstage during iHeartRadio Wango Tango on June 1, 2019 in Carson, California. Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for iHeartMedia
Swift, meanwhile, has frequently championed the LGBTQIA+ community as an ally.
“Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male,” she previously told Vogue in an August 2019 profile. “I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of. It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud. When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.”
Swift is currently dating NFL star Travis Kelce, whom she started seeing in summer 2023.