Anything we want, really. Through the gender-neutrality of many of his songs, he is everything, and through his professed celibacy, he is nothing. I don't mind who listens. I wouldn't like to be thought of as a gay spokesman, though, because it's just not true. Morrissey may portray his gay-icon status as unfounded, but he's just toying with us.
Ambiguity is good for building up the fan base, after all.
For more trenchant lessons in the workings of his spirit, listen to Morrissey's songs. References like these, left with little or no public clarification, permit Morrissey to speak from a safe emotional distance, but his gay audience hears him loud and clear anyway. Since the 1987 dissolution of the Smiths, Morrissey has engendered critical disappointment for failing to soar to the heights he attained with Johnny Marr, the ace guitarist who was to the Smiths' music what Morrissey was to the words. Perhaps critics should take a lesson from Morrissey's friend Miss Michael Stipe of R.E.M., who believes that musicians should not seek indefinite growth. Stipe emphasizes refining what you do well over reinventing your act with every album.