After New Interview, Indie Musician Porches Responds to Accusations of Queer-Baiting

After giving an interview with the gay magazine Out, the frontman of the indie rock band Porches, Aaron Maine, is responding to accusations of queer-baiting.

Maine was profiled by Out in a piece called "Porches' Aaron Maine is Embracing His Queer, Suburban Sensuality." The article, which has since been edited and altered, originally suggested Maine's painted nails and his wearing of spaghetti strap blouses "give[s] his music resonance in LGBTQ circles, with queer fans able to 'lose themselves' in 'this sense of self-isolation,' " according to a Spin magazine article about the piece.

"For many of his fans, the news of his heterosexuality may admittedly come as a surprise," Out magazine writer Chris Thomas reportedly wrote in the original profile piece. "But on his social media feeds, you're just as likely to see Maine with painted nails or wearing a spaghetti strap blouse for a Vogue shoot as you are to see him lying about with his girlfriend."

The paragraph has since been altered and now reads:

"While he's often lounging around with painted nails or wearing a spaghetti strap blouse for a Vogue shoot with his girlfriend, singer and model Kaya Wilkins, he's careful to 'try to stay in [his] lane' when it comes to his identity as he shifts towards a more suburban sensuality for the music videos for 'Country' and 'Find Me' he's created alongside collaborator Nick Harwood, whose resume includes the likes of Sophie and Kim Petras."

The story's headline has also been changed and Out nixed "His Queer" so it now reads: "Porches' Aaron Maine is Embracing His Suburban Sensuality."

Not long after the original article hit the web did social media users take issue with both Maine, who was accused of queer-baiting, and the Out article itself.

The backlash caused Maine to issue a statement on his Instagram stories, which have been captured by Spin.

"I've been hesitant to talk about having any relationship with queerness because it seems cache, especially now with the way media directs attention and frames straight presenting people as gender queer or fluid," he wrote in part.

He goes on to say:

"A lot of the aesthetic choices I've made in the past were overlooked and I was assumed to be queer, that I was playing or appropriating queer culture. I'm interested in queerness but mainly performance; Porches has been a platform for me to explore who I am and have myself reflected back to me since I started the project almost ten years ago. It was a space for me to work through things I felt internally but only more recently felt comfortable enough to embody and physically portray."

Click here to read his full statement via Spin.

In Out magazine's updated article, the publication added a note acknowledging the backlash:

Note: Our readers have expressed many concerns and frustrations about the topics of queerness and queer identity as represented in this article. We sincerely apologize for delegitimizing the lived experience of anyone in the LGBTQ community and understand the tricky issues our readers are concerned about regarding who gets to claim queerness as an identity and why some self-identifying straight musicians have queer followings. We hear your concerns about how artists can practice allyship with the community and whether true allyship is possible without appropriation or delegitimization.

We've edited the piece from its original version accordingly and thank you for your feedback.

Click here to read Out's profile on Maine.

Porches' new album "The House" dropped last month. Check out the music video for the song "Country" below.