Meet Queer Musician and LGBTQ+ Activist Cassie Taylor
Cassie Taylor (she/they) is a queer, BIPOC/bi-racial musician, creative, and community organizer. Born in Boulder, CO, and now based in Kansas City, MO, her music aims to inspire conversation and build community. Their recent tracks act as anthems of support for the LGBTQIA+ community, and their newest music videos showcase queer love and joy.
As a teenager, Taylor began performing and touring as a bassist and vocalist with her father Otis’s band. After their father took a sabbatical from music to have a family, Taylor was able to watch him rebuild his music career. Witnessing his determination and how vigorously he worked for what he believed in was very impactful for Taylor.
Taylor also took a sabbatical from music in 2014, returning with fervor. Their return also marks a transition in how they present themself. “I’m not hiding who I am anymore. I came out publicly as queer in 2022, and the songs I’m writing and producing now stem from a place of total expression and authenticity,” they said in a press release.
Surrounded by nonbinary and transgender friends, she reveled in their bravery. From there, Taylor was able to unpack their own constructs, beginning with their racial identity. “When I left music, I was 28 and very much under the impression that being who I was was going to kill my career.” At the time, she was married to a man and feared that dating a woman would negatively impact her career. “I’m getting close to the second half of my life, and I don’t want to live like that anymore,” says Tayor, now identifying as bisexual. “And now I look back on that, and I’m like, ‘Oh, damn it, I missed a lot of formative experiences that I could have had because I chose a career over my identity.’
“I think that we talk about self-love all the time and self-care, and I don’t necessarily know if we’re talking about it in the right way,” says Taylor. “To me, self-care and self-love are giving myself permission to not hate myself for the choices that I’ve made in the past when I didn’t know better. I think, and it sounds corny, but you have to be yourself because everything else has already been done, and you will not achieve the kind of success that is meaningful if you continue to live for other people.” Currently living for what they believe in, Taylor is using their musical, narrative, and community-based talents to spread awareness and provide for people in need.
Now choosing to live as her truest self, things are falling into place. “The harder I lean into it, the better things get, and then also the wins that I have, I celebrate more.” No longer having to compromise their identity has landed them a spot working with Playboy. Taylor described walking in her friends’ kink leather fashion show and absolutely serving with her dommy-mommy persona.
Soon after, Playboy reached out to Taylor, praising them for being unabashed in who they were. Taylor explained how, at the time, her personal life seemed to be burning. Reflecting on this moment of positive reception and the resulting opportunities, they mentioned that “to understand and have that hope for the future that the best is yet to come, and that I still have worth, value, and I can still be sexy, is such a powerful notion and such a gift that they gave me.” Taylor stresses, “To women—you don’t have an expiration date.”
On top of being a Playboy bunny and creating content for the Playboy Club platform, Playboy is collaborating with Taylor to style the wardrobe for her next music video, “Take Me For A Ride.” The song is inspired by one of Taylor’s past girlfriends, “a wild spirit, rebellious welder, biker.” Taylor spent time driving around on the back of her Harley and sharing intimate moments.
Both Playboy and Harley, to Taylor, are “synonymous with that kind of freedom (and) sexual liberation,” and the wardrobe collaboration seems to speak to Playboy’s support and commitment to sexual freedom, inclusivity, and expression. “I think being welcomed and celebrated by one of the biggest media proprietors and iconic brands is amazing. And I feel like the more I lean into this, like, dommy-mommy queer persona that really does exist in my life, the better things get.”
Her recent music vividly reflects her unabashed authenticity. In June, Taylor released “DEADNAME (Find You),” an uptempo Western disco ballad alongside BIPOC trans artists Cuee and Dante Foley. The track follows the story of a transgender man on a journey toward self-love and touches on themes of self-acceptance, liberation, and embracing one’s authentic identity.
“DEADNAME (Find You)” is “a vessel for a story that didn’t exist, but maybe somewhere, on some plane, did.” When she first wrote the song, her record label at the time turned it down, not wanting to have the conversation about trans rights. Two years later, Taylor’s persistence won over, and the song was released. The accompanying music video was filmed at a local Kansas City queer event called Queer Bar Takeover during their Cowboy Carter party.
The song exemplifies Taylor’s ode to living authentically and using her creativity to generate more visibility for the LGBTQ+ community. As they explained, Taylor felt predatory to release the song and profit from a story that wasn’t theirs. Feeling privileged for being someone who is white assumed by most people, cisgender, comfortable in her own body anatomy, and often passing for heterosexual, she chose to partner with Point of Pride as a nonprofit beneficiary.
Point of Pride will receive 50% of the song’s proceeds, and Cuee and Foley will receive the other half. Point of Pride was founded in 2016 as an independent sibling nonprofit organization to the clothing and apparel company by and for trans individuals, Point 5cc. The nonprofit will share the proceeds in two ways. First, members of the trans and nonbinary communities will receive access to Point of Pride’s telehealth partners Folx and Plume. In addition, proceeds will go towards purchasing gender-affirming shapewear from trans-owned companies including gc2b, Origami Customs, and urBasics.
Not only are Taylor and her team working to make a tangible difference in the lives of the LGBTQ+ community, her own story models the power of authenticity. “I think to people who are questioning their sexuality or their identity, it’s never too late to come out and it’s never too late to live your authentic self. Life is so fucking hard. There is so much shit going on in the world all of the time. If you have to do all of that and battle who you fundamentally are at the core, it is not sustainable.
“And I don’t think that I would have been able to do the things that I’m doing now, which are hard and difficult if when I shut my laptop, I hate myself.” Music is a powerful tool for positive change. Creatives like Taylor are consistently showing up and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community. Their hard work and dedication don’t merely result in catchy songs, but beacons of hope for inclusivity.
