Annie Lennox and her androgynous look may have broken fresh ground in the early 1980s, but just don’t call the iconic singer-songwriter a “gender bender.”

“I really felt it was diminishing in a way,” Lennox, 59, tells Pride Source’s Chris Azzopardi. “I wasn’t bending gender; I was making a statement in a kind of subtle way … I was saying, ‘Look, as a woman I can be equal to a man,’ and in this partnership with the Eurythmics, where I was in a partnership with a man [Dave Stewart], the two of us felt so connected that my gender didn’t matter.”

Of course, Lennox’s reputation extends beyond music and into the realm of philanthropy. She’s certainly been an outspoken lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) rights advocate as well as an outspoken HIV/AIDS activist.

“One day we’ll get rid of this word ‘gay,’ because it’s irrelevant,” she notes. “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.”

Lennox’s forthcoming album, “Nostalgia,” features covers of classic tunes like “Summertime” and “Georgia on my Mind,” which should appease the star’s sizable LGBT fan base.

As for the loyalty of that audience, she notes, “I just make music, and I have no idea who is going to listen to it.”

Read the full PrideSource interview with Annie Lennox here.