The world is mourning the death of music legend, Prince, who passed away last week. The androgynous, LGBTI icon pushed the boundaries of gender and will forever be remembered for his eclectic style and his unique fusion of rock, funk, pop and R “I just can’t believe all the things people say / Controversy / Am I black or white, am I straight or gay?” “I said life is just a game. We’re all just the same. Don’t ya wanna play?” In an interview in the Rolling Stone that same year he spoke of his “standard rebuff for overenthusiastic male fans” telling Bill Ader, he was not gay. ”I’m not about that; we can be friends, but that's as far as it goes. My sexual preferences really aren't any of their business.” Then in 1984 he released ‘O Would Die 4 U’, with the lyrics “I’m not a woman / I’m not a man / I am something that you’ll never understand”, the song is regarded by many in the LGBTI community as inspirational. Prince became a Jehovah’s Witness in 1997 and his relationship to the LGBTI community was questioned once again when he was labeled as homophobic following a 2008 interview with Claire Hoffman in the New Yorker. During the interview he was asked about issues such as same-sex marriage, Prince is said to have tapped his bible and told Hoffman, “God came to earth and saw people sticking it wherever and doing it with whatever, and he just cleared it all out. He was, like, ‘Enough.’” His response was said by his representatives to be misquoted. Having never spoke of marriage equality publicly following the interview, in not advocating for it, he also never spoke out against it. As the Advocate notes, in 2008, the same year as Prince’s interview with the New Yorker, Barack Obama also didn’t support same-sex marriage. With a myriad of suggestive lyrics and vague interviews leading to no definitive conclusions regarding his support of the LGBTI community and his own identity, perhaps the best way to acknowledge Prince’s impact on the LGBTI community is to do just that. Following Prince’s death, openly gay R - 28th April 2016