Sure, but bearding is still something that every entertainment industry does, and I should know. I was forced into that life myself just last year. It ended differently for me - my father is in jail, my modeling contracts are my own now, and I'm openly gay. But I know how it would have kept on going if my father was still running all of that for me.
Have you seen pictures of her with Karlie Kloss? The tenderness of the way they touch each others, the MAJOR heart eyes they give each other? And a LOT of the pronouns are nonexistent in her latest album. Some of them were obviously changed (there's sheets of her music where parts were whited out and new more male-oriented lyrics were written in, etc). She's also done things like make speeches about how terrible it is to hide who you love, on a stage in front of thousands of people, in a rainbow dress.
I think Taylor is trying desperately to tell us all something extremely important that her previous record album wouldn't allow her to do. I won't be disappointed, though, if in the end she's just a marvelous friend and ally to our community! As a fan, I think mainly I'd just like to see her happy and she definitely looks closer to it these days.