Gender in video games: is Yoshi male or female?

Yoshi is one of the many characters of video games over which people have been passionately debating on its gender. Talking about gender in video games seems very futile however homophobia and transphobia are often present in those games which encourage gamers into sexual prejudices and discriminations in real life. For instance in 2014, the game SIMS4 was forbidden to Russian minors because homosexual couple were represented in the game. Video games have a massive influence on young people which is why discriminations against the LGBT community should not be perpetrated in those fictional lives.