Annie Lennox: ‘The word ‘gay’ is irrelevant’
By Josh Haggis
Annie Lennox has argued that the word “gay” is irrelevant.
The iconic singer, whose forthcoming covers album Nostalgia finds her tackling songs made famous in the 1930s, 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, explained in a new interview that although labels are important in the battle for human rights, at the end of the day a person’s sexual orientation is “nobody’s effing business”.
“This is something I’ve been saying to a lot of my gay compadres: One day we’ll get rid of this word ‘gay,’ because it’s irrelevant,” the singer told PrideSource.
She continued: “Of course it’s terribly relevant when you are trying to create a campaign. During a human rights movement, it’s terribly important to have labels and to have platforms that are very identifiable, but ultimately we should just be fine with everybody no matter what our sexual orientation is.”
“It’s nobody’s effing business,” she added.
Meanwhile, in preparation for the release of her new album next month (October), Lennox has unveiled a cover of the Nina Simone/Screamin’ Jay Hawkins classic I Put a Spell on You – listen to it here.