UPPER ARLINGTON, OH—Describing how the pop singer’s latest music video provided the encouragement she had been looking for, local teen Gabriella Bowman was reportedly inspired Monday by Taylor Swift to come out as a straight woman needing to be at the center of the gay rights narrative. “As soon as the video for the pride anthem opened with a close shot of Taylor’s face, my heart stopped and I thought, ‘That’s me,’” said Bowman, who explained how watching the artist use LGBTQ iconography to advance her career empowered the 17-year-old to arrive at an epiphany about wresting a movement out of marginalized people’s hands and into her own. “For my whole life, I’ve lived in shame and fear about the mere idea of making Pride Month about me. People always tried to tell me that I should let others speak for themselves, that they should control their own narratives. They even told me that I was ‘confused.’ And even though Taylor Swift has now shown me that it’s okay to be me, it breaks my heart that there are still so many straight people out there who haven’t yet stepped forward to make LGBTQ equality all about them.” At press time, Bowman had assembled a group of her closest gay friends and family members to inform them she was their leader now.

Advertisement