Taylor Swift's 'Gaylor' Fans Think She's About To Make A Big Announcement Post-Breakup & They've Been Stacking Evidence
They believed she's been hiding her truth for years and is finally ready to let it out.
Press Line Photos, Ovidiu Hrubaru / Shutterstock Fans have once again resurfaced the rumor that Taylor Swift is gay following her split from longtime boyfriend Joe Alwyn.
Swift’s die-hard fanbase is devoted to the megastar and readily combs through her lyrics, her performances, her music videos, and her general presence to make meaning out of what they see. Swift is known for playing into this part of her fandom, leaving "Easter eggs" strewn throughout her catalog for fans to pick up on leading fans to form some wild theories over the years.
The announcement of Swift’s breakup from actor Joe Alwyn on April 8, 2023, sent fans into a whirlwind of theorizing about the exact nature of their split, the reasons behind it, and what Swift will do next. And one popular theory has been given new life once again.
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Is Taylor Swift gay?
In 2019, Swift told Vogue she is "not a part" of the LGBTQ community but fans continue to speculate that she is gay, bisexual or queer in some way. In the same discussion with Vogue, Swift did express her support for the LGBTQ community.
"Rights are being stripped from basically everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male," she said. "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."
However, even her denial couldn't stop fans from looking for evidence to support their theories.
Fans who call themselves 'Gaylors' strongly believe that Swift is queer.
Within the group there is some disagreement about the specifics of Swift's sexual identity but there is a broad assumption that she is not straight. Many also believe she has had romantic relationships with her former friends model Karlie Kloss and actress Dianna Agron—neither of whom have publicly come out as queer.
The so-called evidence is expansive — Swift's many, many social media posts featuring rainbows, the time Swift performed a song about a male lover and swapped in female pronouns, her hair dyed the colors of the bisexual flag in the music video for "You Need To Calm Down" or the time she announced a new single on Lesbian Visibility Day in a 2019 Instagram post that featured (you guessed it) more rainbows.
'Gaylors' suspect Taylor Swift and Karlie Kloss dated.
You can't stumble into Gaylor's corner of the internet without also encountering theories about her former friendship with Kloss.
The two were once inseparable before Kloss's 2018 wedding to Joshua Kushner all but confirmed a fallout after Swift didn't attend either of the two celebrations of the couple's nuptials.
For proponents of the "Taylor Swift is gay" theory, the two weren't friends but romantic partners who have since broken up.
As evidence, fans often cite "kissgate" — a video of Kloss and Swift hugging, dancing and maaaaybe kissing (but likely not) at a The 1975 concert in 2019.
Needless to say, the two have never explicitly addressed the rumors but fans often speculate some of Swift's more heartbreak-themed tracks might secretly be about a romance with Kloss—notably, an Evermore bonus track titled "right where you left me" which was released amid feud rumors and features the lyrics, "Friends break up, friends get married."
Fans think Swift hints at her queerness in her music.
Gaylor fans have consistently claimed certain Swift songs as part of queer canon. These fans have done close reads on Swift’s lyrics, and have come to the conclusion that she is leaving hints about her true, albeit hidden, sexuality.
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Some fans point to the lyrics of Swift's song "Dancing With Our Hands" tied, released in 2017, as she sings, "I loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us," which fans believe alludes to the constraints homophobia puts on queer relationships.
2018’s "Dress" is also cited as a clue that Swift isn’t straight. The lines of the song read, “Our secret moments in your crowded room… They’ve got no idea about me and you... I don’t want you like a best friend… Only bought this dress so you could take it off.”
Others look at the folklore album as being especially queer, particularly claiming track 15, "betty," as an undeniably sapphic narrative that follows a love triangle between characters James, Inez, and Betty. Many read the song as being sung from Swift's perspective, making it a lesbian love song.
Still, others read into the subtext of Midnights’ song "Lavender Haze" as hinting at Swift’s queerness. The queer politicization of the color lavender goes back to the rise of second-wave feminism and its lack of intersectionality. That form of feminism excluded queer women from its folds, so queer women created their own political movement, which was derogatorily referred to as The Lavender Menace.
History lesson aside, Gaylor fans made their beliefs known across social media platforms, analyzing Swift’s every move for the possibility that she’s on her way to coming out.
One such fan is a die-hard believer in the Gaylor theory, crafting their whole TikTok presence around the theory that Swift is queer.
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Monet believes strongly in Swift’s queerness, posting that “it’s got to be so embarrassing for these Swifties just figuring out all the s–t , when the Gaylors figured this s–t out as soon as the album came out and before, and with every single music video that’s come out.”
“I’m just really proud to be a Gaylor right now,” Monet says. “I’m just watching this unfold for the Swifties and it feels like a dream.”
Fans believe Swift's split from Joe Alwyn is a sign she will come out soon.
“Are we the only ones who listened properly to this album?” Asked one of Monet’s followers in the comments. “I truly think she’s going to come out soon,” said another person. “This album is blatantly fruity.”
This particular subset of Swift fans say that her split from Alwyn after six years together was to be expected, and they think she’s about to make a life-shifting announcement.
Sources told People Magazine that Swift and Alwyn’s split was due to “differences in their personalities,” something Gaylor fans claim to have seen all along. "Taylor didn't see them working out in the long run," says the insider, who claimed that ultimately, they “weren't the right fit for one another."
Monet even believes that the opening bands Swift chose for the Eras Tour are further evidence of her queerness. Swift’s openers include bands MUNA and girl in red, who are openly gay performers. Phoebe Bridgers is also part of the line-up, a queer standard in her own right.
Gaylor fans hold strong to the belief that the opposing side of Swiftie fandom, called "hetlors," who believe in Swift’s inherent straightness, is essentially straight-washing her work to make it fit their heteronormative framework.
Yet the focus on who Swift sleeps with is beside the point. No one owes an explanation of their sexual identity to anyone else. Love takes many forms; it exists beyond gender. Swift deserves the space to embark on her own journey, wherever that journey takes her.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers celebrity gossip, pop culture analysis and all things to do with the entertainment industry.