Prce transcend every tegory: straight, gay, black, whe, rock, R&B, male, female.

Contents:

• PRCE: GAY IN, WHETHER HE WANTED TO BE OR NOT
• TURNS OUT PRCE WAS A GAY-BASHG HOMOPHOBE
• WAS PRCE GAY? HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HIS SEXUALY

PRCE: GAY IN, WHETHER HE WANTED TO BE OR NOT

Prce: Gay In, Whether He Wanted to Be or NotHow to rencile his later nservatism wh the sexual liberatn he stood for earlier life?

Mike Blake / RtersIn 2008, the New Yorker wrer Claire Hoffman asked Prce what he thought of social issu like gay marriage and abortn. The “homophobe” label attached self to him, acpanied by the bter shock of many fans.

“The pop star who ma his name on his effete, androgyno ‘Is he GAY or not?

TURNS OUT PRCE WAS A GAY-BASHG HOMOPHOBE

But the years after that saw Prce actively avoid talkg about gay rights, and some wrers saw subtle homophobia a few of his later lyrics and qutn of how someone whose art once seemed to preach the very ia of “stickg wherever and dog wh whatever”—wh magaz, etc. Stewart go on to wre about how even though Prce’s lyril viewpot was almost always heterosexual—his songs were about men wantg women and women wantg men—he was unaaid of beg lled feme, gay, or perverted.

WAS PRCE GAY? HERE’S WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT HIS SEXUALY

“Controversy, ” famoly, sniffed at the simplistic qutns directed at him: “Am I black or whe, am I straight or gay? ’ Gay marriage, whatever. Whether was his performance of machismo Purple Ra or his liberately feme pantsu on the ver of Esquire, Prce spent his reer celebratg genr fluidy and fyg tegori of straight and gay.

Was he gay? Years before the lears of the gay and lbian muny began to embrace a more nuanced, ls bary notn of queerns—and s before transgenr and genrqueer polics beme mastream topics of tert—Prce prented a livg se study the glor eedom a world whout strgent labels might offer.

In 2006, gay mician Ruf Wawright wrote the Guardian that Prce’s genrfuckery is still unmatched morn pop mic.