Swifties have been busy celebrating Taylor Swift’s engagement to Travis Kelce, but one group of fans—the Gaylors—haven’t taken the news so well.

Who Are The Gaylors?

Gaylors are Swifties who earnestly believe that Taylor Swift is secretly gay, or at least bisexual.

The general idea is that Swift drops hints alluding to secret relationships and desires through song lyrics and social media posts.

While Gaylors are a fringe minority of Swift fans, there are two subreddits dedicated to the theory, r/Gaylor and r/GaylorSwift, with the latter boasting more than 50,000 members.

These subreddits aren’t exclusively dedicated to the theory—often, they’re simply an LGBT-friendly space for Swifties to chat—but the theories over Swift’s sexuality are a constant topic.

This might sound rather intrusive, probably because it is, but obsessive speculation over the private life of celebrities is just how stan culture works nowadays, at least on the internet.

Many Swifties have very strong opinions about the singer’s personal life, and Swift has always invited her fans to comb her work for clues and easter eggs about future projects.

A gargantuan, diverse fanbase dedicated to uncovering hidden messages inevitably leads to a semblance of conspiratorial thinking, and Swifties have a history of making false predictions, or misreading Swift’s intentions.

The Gaylors are a much-mocked splinter of the Swiftie fandom, but their theory has sparked a great deal of discourse, and even appeared in a controversial New York Times op-ed.

Taylor Swift’s Engagement Sparks A Gaylor Content Frenzy

In the wake of Travis and Taylor’s engagement announcement, fans had fun making memes and commentary, many mimicking Swift’s Instagram caption, “Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married.”

Some revisited Travis Kelce’s most amusing “himbo” tweets, or cracked jokes about Swift’s private jet.

Others turned to r/Gaylor for content, curious about how the community would react. Soon, screenshots started circulating, with many Gaylors expressing deep disappointment, and confusion.

Some weren’t convinced that Swift’s engagement to a man actually meant that the singer was straight, seemingly willing to keep the conspiratorial flame burning.

It wasn’t clear if the most unhinged comments were being written by regular users of the subreddit, or if they were coming from interlopers looking to create their own content.

Both subreddits attracted so much attention that they were made private following the engagement announcement, leaving content-hungry commentators locked out.

Nevertheless, many managed to make their own fun.

Swift appeared to debunk the Gaylor theory in 2023, within the notes of 1989 (Taylor’s Version). Swift wrote that Gaylors had “sexualized” and “sensationalized” her “female friendships.”

Throughout her career, Swift has presented herself as an ally to the queer community, but has never claimed to be part of the LGBTQ-umbrella.

In a 2019 interview with Vogue, Swift expressed concern for the queer community, saying:

“Rights are being stripped away from everyone who isn’t a straight white cisgender male. I didn’t realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I’m not a part of.”

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