Gay TikTok Investigates: Is Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” About Sara Ramirez and/or Rutina Wesley?

Google News alerts me any time any celebrity says anything that’s even leaning up against the idea of being gay — or when websites lie about it. Starting two weeks ago I kept hearing that Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” was about Jessica Chastain, but I also kept hearing that Kristen Stewart was going to make another Twilight movie if Bella Swan could be bisexual. Just a lot of bananapants rumors out here, you know? Okay, but then! Today! My Sara Ramirez Google News alert mentioned this Vanessa Carlton/Jessica Chastain thing, so I finally clicked on it — and lo! Queer Christian musician Grace Baldridge, from the TikTok The Baldridges, has done a special investigation about Vanessa Carlton’s “A Thousand Miles” and decided it’s either about Jessica Chastain, Sara Ramirez, or Rutina Wesley, which means this thing now has my full attention.

@thebaldridges

The truth is out there! #athousandmiles #lgbt #vanessacarlton

♬ original sound – The Baldridges

Okay so the theory goes like this: Vanessa Carlton is a known bisexual who one time said “A Thousand Miles” is about a crush she had on someone who went to Juilliard with her. And guess who went to Juilliard with her? Yuh: Other known queers Sara Ramirez and Rutina Wesley! Grace Baldridge also points out that walking really fast with a blank stare on your face is queer culture, and I cannot disagree.

I would also point out, as we often do when we talk about Taylor Swift, that straight people simply do not pine with the same kind of intensity as queer people. Walking one hundred miles on a treadmill in an air conditioned room seems straight; walking one thousand miles through a mystical timeless void? That’s gay. Also, there’s at least three employees of Autostraddle dot com who would absolutely walk one thousand miles through the flames of literal hell for Sara Ramirez and Rutina Wesley, so, I mean, there’s a precedent.

Thank you for your investigatory work, Grace Baldridge! We look forward to your next gay deep dive about which soft butch Kacey Musgraves’ song “Space Cowboy” is about.

@thebaldridges

who wouldn’t walk a thousand miles for @jes_chastain ????

♬ A Thousand Miles – Vanessa Carlton

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

8 Comments

  1. hey that’s grace baldridge, queer christian musician extraordinaire and host of state of grace on refinery29’s youtube! they do music as semler and recently made it to #1 on itunes’ christian chart which is a pretty big deal ✨

  2. No someone has to do White Houses, an extremely bisexual song about being in a love triangle with your college roommates. I wanna know if the roommates in question are also famous Juilliard alums!

  3. Interesting!

    **walking one thousand miles through a mystical timeless void? That’s gay.**

    Does that mean that dude from the proclaimers is also gay? Or is it just on the other side of the gender spectrum? How does one contact the gay tiktok for information?

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