At this point, I’m kind of over speculating about Taylor Swift’s sexuality. I think the Kaylor rumors are fun too, but I feel the same way about the Taylor sexuality-conversations that I feel about the Kendall Jenner sexuality-conversations. Which is: if they have something to tell us, they’ll tell us. The fact that they haven’t come out and said something means they don’t have something to tell us. I think it’s that simple in the year of our lord Beyonce 2020. I think Kendall just has a tomboy energy and she dates men. I think Taylor and Karlie Kloss maybe had something special but they had a complicated breakup and it was about a lot of different things. Taylor will tell us if she wants to tell us. It’s that simple.

All of which to say, I don’t think there’s some deep personal reason why Taylor Swift suddenly became a major LGBTQ ally over the past, what, 14 months or so? Let’s be generous and say the past two years. I don’t think Taylor is trying to “tell us something” other than “she’s ready to start getting more politically and socially active after staying quiet on important issues of the day for far too many years.” The change happened swiftly (lol) and now no one bats an eye when Taylor takes part in a Pride Live event for Stonewall Day. On Friday she spoke to Pride Live about trans rights and Stonewall and more:

On Friday, many familiar faces joined remotely in Pride Live’s Stonewall Day livestream event, including President Barack Obama, Katy Perry and the “You Need to Calm Down” singer. Stonewall Day serves as an annual commemoration of the 1969 Stonewall uprising.

“Hey guys, it’s Taylor,” the Grammy winner began her message. “I wanted to say happy Pride Month. The Stonewall Inn has been such a symbol of rebellion in the face of oppression and such a safe place for people. I want to say thank you to everybody who works there, everyone who has worked there, everyone who’s made it the place that it is. I was lucky enough to get to go and perform at the Stonewall Inn last summer when my friend Jesse Tyler Ferguson invited me to come and crash his set and everybody there was so lovely and wonderful.”

Referencing the June 15th Supreme Court ruling, Swift noted, “We had a really good step forward recently with the Supreme Court ruling based on discrimination, based on sex, but we still have so far to go in terms of equality and protections for LGBTQ people and people in the trans community. The Equality Act has still not been passed and that needs to happen.”

As the star continued, she raised the topic of the 2020 Census. “I got my Census the other day and there were two choices for gender. There was male and female and that erasure was so upsetting to me, the erasure of transgender and nonbinary people,” she said during her message. “When you don’t collect information on a group of people, that means that you have every excuse in the world not to support them. When you don’t collect data on a community, that’s a really, really brutal way of dismissing them.”

As a result, she encouraged fans to vote to combat discrimination. “Obviously, we all need to exercise our right to vote this year. We need to check out our absentee ballot policy in our states and we need to make sure that we elect people who care about all communities.”

“I love you guys so much,” Swift concluded her impassioned remarks, “and I hope you have an amazing rest of Pride Month and continue fighting the good fight.”

[From E! News]

It occurred to me as I was reading through that – this is Taylor’s first significant statement on Pride Month this year! (She did tweet about the SCOTUS decision in mid-June, fwiw.) Last year, she made Pride Month all about her album, the “You Need to Calm Down” single and video and how she was an ALLY now. What’s nice is that Taylor got some backlash for trying to hijack the Pride conversation last year and she actually listened and tried to make this year’s Pride Month less about “ME!” That, and she’s actually extended her allyship to Black Lives Matter and became even more of an intersectional feminist. Which is a great thing, no shade.

An important message from @taylorswift13 on #StonewallDay happening NOW on @LogoTV’s YouTube & FB. To donate, text REBEL to 243725. pic.twitter.com/rpHtDU7PF1

— Pride Live (@REALPRIDELIVE) June 26, 2020

Photos courtesy of WENN.