The former country singer has shed her long-maintained apolitical public persona over the past year, making high-profile donations to LGBT+ charities and urging fans to join a campaign for equal rights laws.
In an interview with Vogue published on Thursday (August 8), the singer explained that she realized she need to be more vocal after a conversation with “Twerking in the Rain” singer Todrick Hall.
She explained: “Maybe a year or two ago, Todrick and I are in the car, and he asked me, ‘What would you do if your son was gay?’
“The fact that he had to ask me…shocked me and made me realize that I had not made my position clear enough or loud enough.
“If my son was gay, he’d be gay. I don’t understand the question.”
She added: “If he was thinking that, I can’t imagine what my fans in the LGBTQ community might be thinking.
“It was kind of devastating to realize that I hadn’t been publicly clear about that.”
The singer would go on to collaborate with Todrick Hall on her “You Need to Calm Down” music video, which showcases a diverse range of queer talent.
She added: “Rights are being stripped from basically 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.”
She added: “”It’s hard to know how to do that without being so fearful of making a mistake that you just freeze. Because my mistakes are very loud.
“When I make a mistake, it echoes through the canyons of the world. It’s clickbait, and it’s a part of my life story, and it’s a part of my career arc.”
Swift also opened up about why she failed to back Donald Trump’s opponent Hillary Clinton in 2016, unlike many other celebrities.
She told Vogue: “Unfortunately in the 2016 election you had a political opponent who was weaponizing the idea of the celebrity endorsement.
“He was going around saying, ‘I’m a man of the people. I’m for you. I care about you.’ I just knew I wasn’t going to help.”
Referencing her very public feud with Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, she added: “The summer before that election, all people were saying [about me] was ‘She’s calculated. She’s manipulative. She’s not what she seems. She’s a snake. She’s a liar.’
“These are the same exact insults people were hurling at Hillary. Would I be an endorsement or would I be a liability? ‘Look, snakes of a feather flock together. Look, the two lying women. The two nasty women.’
“Literally millions of people were telling me to disappear. So I disappeared. In many senses.”
Swift took an explicit political stance during the 2018 midterms, however, and was credited in helping drive registration up among young voters.