テイラー・スウィフトさんの性的指向めぐるコラムが物議　ＮＹタイムズ

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米ポップミュージック界のスーパースター、テイラー・スウィフトさんのセクシュアリティー（性的指向）を推測する長文コラムが物議をかもしている。米ニューヨーク・タイムズに掲載されたコラムで、一部のソーシャルメディアユーザーは撤回を求めている。（写真は、第８１回ゴールデン・グローブ賞授賞式のレッドカーペットに登場したテイラー・スウィフトさん。米カリフォルニア州ビバリーヒルズで）
　オピニオン欄に掲載された５０００ワードの長文コラムは、同欄編集者のアナ・マークス氏によるもの。スウィフトさんは異性愛者だと公言しているにもかかわらず、クィアであることをファンに婉曲（えんきょく）的に伝えているとの考えを示した。
　ＡＦＰは同紙とスウィフトさんの代理人にコメントを求めたが、回答は得られなかった。
　スウィフトさん側のスタッフの一人は匿名でＣＮＮの取材に応じ、このエッセーは「個人的な問題に立ち入り過ぎているだけではなく、虚偽であり、不適切」だと批判している。
　スウィフトさんの恋愛関係は長年、タブロイド紙やファンの間のみならず、自身の曲作りにとっても格好の素材を提供してきた。
　スウィフトさんはこれまで、俳優のトム・ヒドルストンさん、ジェイク・ギレンホールさん、ジョー・アルウィンさん、歌手のハリー・スタイルズさん、バンド「Ｔｈｅ １９７５」のフロントマン、マット・ヒーリーさん、ミュージシャンのジョン・メイヤーさんらとの仲を取り沙汰されてきた。
　数か月前からはＮＦＬのトラビス・ケルシー選手と堂々とデートしているところを試合会場などでしばしば目撃されている。
　ＬＧＢＴＱ＋の権利を擁護してきたスウィフトさんがクィアだと公言したことはない。ただ、本人のセクシュアリティーをめぐっては何年も臆測が飛び交っている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/01/10-17:40）

A lengthy essay speculating over superstar Taylor Swift's sexuality has triggered anger online, with some social media users calling for its retraction.
The 5,000-word guest column published in the paper's opinion pages suggests the wildly popular singer is sending veiled signals to her fans that she is queer, despite identifying publicly as straight.
Neither The Times nor Swift's representatives immediately responded to an AFP request for comment over the piece or the backlash.
Speaking anonymously to CNN, a person in Swift's camp called the column invasive, untrue, and inappropriate.
The essay by Anna Marks, an editor for the NYT's Opinion section, strings together a list of times Swift has seemingly suggested she is queer.
In isolation, a single dropped hairpin is perhaps meaningless or accidental, but considered together, they're the unfurling of a ballerina bun after a long performance, Marks wrote.
Those dropped hairpins began to appear in Ms. Swift's artistry long before queer identity was undeniably marketable to mainstream America. They suggest to queer people that she is one of us.
In 2022 Marks published a guest essay speculating over the gender identity of Harry Styles, a pop star Swift has dated, examining accusations of queerbaiting against him.
Marks opened her Swift column by referencing the inner turmoil of Chely Wright, a queer country musician and activist who has described staying closeted for years for both career and personal reasons.
Following the essay's publication, Wright lambasted it as triggering.
I was mentioned in the piece, so I'll weigh in, Wright wrote on X, the former Twitter, over the weekend.
I think it was awful of @nytimes to publish. Triggering for me to read -- not because the writer mentioned my nearly ending my life -- but seeing a public person's sexuality being discussed is upsetting.
- 'Believe people' -
Swift posted a banner 2023 as she continues her blockbuster Eras tour and catapults to an otherworldly realm of stardom.
For months the 34-year-old has openly dated NFL player Travis Kelce, bringing new legions of viewers to football games as the camera routinely pans to Swift.
Her dating life has long been fodder for tabloids, fans, and her songwriting. Swift has been linked to high-profile men including the actors Tom Hiddleston, Jake Gyllenhaal and Joe Alwyn, as well as the singers Styles, 1975 frontman Matt Healy and John Mayer.
Swift herself has never publicly indicated that she identifies as queer, although speculation has persisted for years.
She has championed LGBTQ+ rights, which she discussed in a 2019 interview with Vogue: I didn't realize until recently that I could advocate for a community that I'm not a part of.
And in the prologue to her recent re-release of her album 1989, Swift reflected that in her twenties she swore off hanging out with guys because of media assumptions that she was sleeping with every man she spent time with.
I swore off dating and decided to focus only on myself, my music, my growth, and my female friendships, she said. If I only hung out with my female friends, people couldn't sensationalize or sexualize that -- right?
I would learn later on that people could and people would.
Kayla Gagnet -- director of digital content at Equal Pride, an umbrella brand of queer-focused media outlets including The Advocate and Out -- said when it comes to celebrity news coverage, pointing out obvious signals is not inherently problematic.
Noticing signs of queerness, she told AFP, should be no different than media noticing Swift was dating Kelce before the pair had confirmed it.
On the other hand, Gagnet said, the backlash to the Times essay is really focused on not the reading of queerness into her work, which I think is totally valid, but more on ignoring or being dismissive of what she herself has said about it.
Followers of pop culture will always be interested in who celebrities are dating, she continued. It's fair game to sort of be interested in what that might mean about their sexuality.
But at Equal Pride outlets, Gagnet said we believe people when they tell us who they are.
And that is true for queer people and straight people and everybody in between.