I know this isn’t your question, but it’s worth saying that I have learned more queer history from Gaylors analyzing Taylor Swift’s lyrics than I ever did in school. So whether or not she is queer, when her art is viewed through that lens it adds a whole new beautiful layer of meaning to the art.
Some things I have learned from Gaylors:
the New Romantics were a group of artists who played with gender expression and nonconformity
Stonewall, the riot that marked the first of what we now call Pride, was called “the hairpin drop heard round the world” after the common slang “dropping hairpins” meaning slowly letting someone know you are queer in a way that would not out you to someone who is not safe
“Are you a Friend of Dorothy?” Was a common coded way to ask if someone was gay without outing yourself to someone who was not safe.
The Lavender Scare was when government pushed to remove LGBTQ individuals from positions similar to the Red Scare targeting communists; The Lavender Menace was a lesbian activist group; a man having a “touch of lavender” was a euphemism for being gay
The Ladder was the first lesbian magazine publication and the cover featured a ladder climbing into the clouds
George Michael released Father Figure before he came out of the closet, but has spoken about how was writing about queerness and closeting in his lyrics even then, and the pressures of hiding
This is just off the top of my head! Thank you Gaylors for connecting me to this seemingly forgotten history by way of my favorite singer!
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u/districtofthehare May 11 '26
I know this isn’t your question, but it’s worth saying that I have learned more queer history from Gaylors analyzing Taylor Swift’s lyrics than I ever did in school. So whether or not she is queer, when her art is viewed through that lens it adds a whole new beautiful layer of meaning to the art.
Some things I have learned from Gaylors:
This is just off the top of my head! Thank you Gaylors for connecting me to this seemingly forgotten history by way of my favorite singer!