Could you explain what you mean about Louis' closet being a light switch? Do you mean more like it's either all on or all off, or more like he either looks clearly straight or clearly gay depending upon how he interacts with his closet?
So I don’t mean the second - I mean that things that other celebrities (both straight and closeted) without batting an eyelid, Louis can’t do without risk being outted. Imagine what would happen if he picked up a rainbow flag - for example?
The starting point for Louis’ closet was that he is very easily read as gay and a billion dollar business depended on him being seen as straight. In the face of that his team choose certain closeting strategies that were mostly about taking away or hiding things.
But that’s not what created the current situation, because just as important was the fact that significant number of fans continued to believe that Louis’ was gay and the more Louis was closeted the more they pushed and the more meaning they made of any sign that he wasn’t straight. And in turn the more of the hiding and taking away that was needed to effectively closet him, because fandom beliefs did not stay in fandom.
Valentine’s Day 2015 is really important in this context. Because a video came out of Louis and some people said they heard “I’m gay it’s pretty unfortunate”. And that phrase trended worldwide and several tabloids including the Daily Mail wrote about it. That showed exactly how fragile his closet was and how close fans were to outting him (I have wondered for a while if that event had a greater impact than we knew at the time).
So it’s not either the fact that Louis is easily read as gay or the fans who very much believe he’s being closeted that have created Louis’ current closet, but the relationship between the two. If you imagine it as one of those knots that only get tighter when you pull at it - and it’s been pulled in all different directions for years now and it’s a particularly gnarly knot.
The question I have is - can that knot be loosened? Are there changes that he could make now that would change the situation and reduce the tension?
And I ask this primarily because I think the current situation is incredibly restricting for him and has an impact on his solo career.
