Taylor Swift’s queer fans raise money for an LGBTQ+ cause just to spite her ex Matty Healy

Queer Taylor Swift fans have raised just over $5,000 for a California LGBTQ+ center in response to what they have characterized as a laughably small donation from the singer’s ex, Matty Healy.

Earlier this month, a fan account devoted to The 1975 posted a photo to X of the band with frontman Healy holding a large check for $500 made out to the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center. The account noted in a subsequent post that the donation was made in the band’s name by Pechanga Arena, not by members of the band themselves.

Related:

Malaysia cancels music festival after Matty Healy from The 1975 kisses a man on stage

“I do not see the point of inviting The 1975 to a country and then telling us who we can have sex with.”

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The paltry donation was quickly mocked by social media users, while queer Swifties—known as “Gaylors”—sprang into action.

“Seeing a well-known band do a photo opp with one of those giant checks for only $500 was comical, but also a bit insulting,” a Gaylor identified as Marki told Teen Vogue.

Marki explained that after seeing the photo posted by another Gaylor, identified as Bre, he commented that they should start their own fundraiser to outdo Healy.

“It was an opportunity to harness the Gaylor community’s frustration [with Healy] into something positive,” Marki explained. “I think both queer culture and internet culture love a bit of snark, and if you aim spite in the right direction you can make it productive instead of destructive—and get a giggle out of it along the way.”

Bre launched an online fundraiser for the San Diego Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center earlier this month with the goal of raising $501. As of this week, the campaign has raised $5,005, slightly over ten times the amount donated on behalf of The 1975.

“I decided to start this fundraiser because it got under my skin that someone who has been so harmful and awful to marginalized communities happily posed with a giant check for only $500 (as a multi-millionaire) donated in his honor,” Bre told Teen Vogue. “It felt insulting and disingenuous.”

Swift’s rumored relationship with Healy became a sore spot for fans earlier this year. The “Anti-Hero” singer was first romantically linked with The 1975 singer in late 2014, but the couple reportedly reconnected briefly this spring. While neither musician ever publicly confirmed their relationship, Swift fans, particularly those who identify as LGBTQ+, took issue with the idea that the singer would date Healy, who has a history of trollish antics.

While he has spoken out against police killings of Black people, misogyny, and toxic masculinity and is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ+ rights, he has also been criticized for doing a Nazi salute onstage during a performance of The 1975 song “Love It If We Made It,” which catalogs the outrages of the Trump presidency, and for a February 2023 appearance on The Adam Friedland Show in which he said he enjoyed watching pornography in which Black women are brutalized and laughed along as the hosts made offensive comments about rapper Ice Spice. Healy has since apologized for his appearance on the show.

“The reaction from Swifties and fans of The 1975 has been indifferent or largely negative. Both groups hate the Gaylor community and anything we touch is hated by proxy,” Marki said of the fundraiser’s success. “There’s been a lot of criticism about [us] not doing it for the ‘right reasons’ or doing it out of spite. But… the LGBTQ+ community sees a lot of unreliable and performative allyship so we’re sensitive to that.”

“When we come together it really is something magical,” he added.