The New York Times says Taylor Swift is queer and needs to come out of the closet. That’s nonsense

I recently went to a Helene Fischer concert. Not entirely voluntarily, as a supervisor, but I was of course curious about the phenomenon and how it works. And I must say, the phenomenon remained breathless for three hours and I was shocked by how many Helene Fischer hits were already stored in my passive musical memory.

One of them was called ‘Rainbow Colours’. Actually the hit version of our children’s song from “Räääägeboge”, you know, “mini color and dini, the git zäme two”, and it was crystal clear what rainbow Helene Fischer meant. Then she also gave a short speech about inclusion, tolerance and interpersonal relationships in general, young people waved their rainbow flags, and older people, who I thought would remain Läderach fans until the grave, and not just because of the chocolate, nodded and said: “Yes, I think that is very important too.”

As a person who is not at all heterosexual, I liked that and thought that this was exactly the power of a pop star, namely to peacefully unite all kinds of people in a moment of shared euphoria, almost forcing them into an embrace and creating an understanding of each other is promoted. It never occurred to me that I thought Helene Fischer was a lesbian. Just like the ‘New York Times’ is currently doing with Taylor Swift.

“Look What We Made Taylor Swift Do,” is the name of the January 4 guest post, which has since caused worldwide outrage and may be the real reason why Taylor Swift was in such a bad mood at the Golden Globes.

In a text of 30,000 characters or 5,000 words, author Anna Marks assumes that Taylor Swift is queer and does not dare to leave her golden cage of success, even though she actually owes this to the queer community.

She sees evidence for her bold statement in dozens of song lyrics (Marks must be a die-hard Swiftie), in performances Swift has given at venues important to the LGBTQ+ scene, in rainbow-colored costumes she wears on stage, and in gestures and statements she made. And all this “consciously or unconsciously”!

Taylor Swift has dropped hints about her true sexual identity “like hairpins” over the years of her career, she writes, and now it’s finally time for the big release.

She opens her article with the story of lesbian country singer Chely Wright (Swift also comes from the country music scene), who wanted to shoot herself in 2006 out of pure accident. “The country is like the army,” Wright later wrote, “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

This is of course tragic, but Marks could also have started with the story of KD Lang, who also came from the restrictive country scene. She came out of the closet during a radio interview in 1992 and became the first openly lesbian world star. Dusty Springfield came out as bisexual in the 1970s. Madonna, who at the time was still covered in the fairy dust of bisexuality, said of Lang: “Elvis is alive and she is beautiful.”

There are bad stories. And there are good ones. But Marks absolutely wants to force Taylor Swift, the woman who has overcome so many obstacles in recent years and redefined her place in the music industry, who finally dares to express herself politically, back into the corset of a victim. That’s why she weaves Swift into a web of bad stories. Swift, of all people, has been vocally committed to queer causes for years and, like Helene Fischer, wants to create a safe space for the community through her concerts.

Of course, only the people who actually share or have shared a bed with Taylor Swift know what her sexual orientation is. So currently Travis Kelce and in the past Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Lautner, Tom Hiddleston, Joe Jonas, Calvin Harris, Harry Styles… Okay, of course Ms. Marks only sees Swift’s diversity of men as a strategic facade.

But assuming that on a distant planet tended to by non-binary unicorns and pansexual squirrels, Taylor Swift was actually more than just heterosexual (why do I take Ms. Marks seriously?), the New York Times article would seem forced. immediately. That’s one of the worst things you can do to someone who doesn’t want to come out, and something even Riot Boulevard doesn’t do anymore.

A flirt with pop and the queer scene, an exchange of signs of solidarity and ‘Easter Eggs’, a translation of songs into anthems of empowerment, have been normal for decades. Because the queer scene, especially when it comes to female superstars, is the most loyal, most enthusiastic, and the shining core of what defines pop. Madonna and Britney Spears’ kiss, Katy Perry’s ‘I Kissed a Girl’, all of Kylie Minogue’s costumes and Helene Fischer’s ‘Rainbow Colors’ are sweet nods from the stars to the community. But no secret cries for help!

Saying, “I wish Taylor Swift liked women too,” is also normal. To say: “Taylor Swift is queer and owes us her coming out, otherwise she will continue to contribute to the deceitfulness of the world and the oppression of queer people” (this is not a quote from Marks’ text, but a summary ) is presumptuous, audacious and blatant nonsense unbecoming of a reliable newspaper like the New York Times. And from.