Nicknamed "Glambert" for his “guyliner”, fingernail polish and outlandish costumes on the recently concluded season of American Idol, Adam Lambert finally acknowledged that he is gay in the latest issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
Adam Lambert: "I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader."
"I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay. I've been living in Los Angeles for eight years as a gay man. I've been at clubs drunk making out with somebody in the corner...
“Right after the finale, I almost started talking about it to the reporters, but I thought, ‘I’m going to wait for Rolling Stone, that will be cooler. I didn’t want the Clay Aiken thing and the celebrity-magazine bullshit. I need to be able to explain myself in context. I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.
"I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader.”
In March, even when photos appeared on the Internet of him kissing another man and dressed in drag, the 27-year-old did not publicly acknowledge whether or not he's gay saying only: "I have nothing to hide. I am who I am."
Just last month, when asked by an Entertainment Weekly reporter about “something that's been dangling a bit over you for the whole season,” Lambert replied: “It's not dangling over my head. [Laughing] It may be dangling over yours, but it's not over mine. Yeah, I think speculation keeps things really interesting.”
He was asked again by TV Guide's Matt Mitovich: “Have there been ridiculously overt, roundabout ways to get at you about the 'elephant in the room?”
To which Lambert replied: “They've been actually straightforward, actually, to which I go.. 'heh, uh.' Yeah, so. That elephant, man, it's pink, isn't it?”
After he lost May's finale to boy-next-door Kris Allen, the media buzzed with speculation that being gay cost Lambert viewer’s votes.
Lambert also revealed in the interview that Allen, who was his roommate, was the only guy he “found attractive in the whole group on the show: nice, nonchalant, pretty and totally my type — except that he has a wife. I mean he's open-minded and liberal, but he's definitely 100% straight.”
Lambert has often been compared with runner-up of the 2003 season Clay Aiken who only came out as gay in 2008 - to which he commented in the Rolling Stone interview: "Clay Aiken's gay, and I'm gay, and we couldn't be more different. The only thing that is the same about everyone in the gay community is that we're gay... Why can't we talk about a human community?"
One of the first people to make a public statement regarding the Lambert news was Neil. G. Giuliano, President of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), who said: “As more and more Americans get to know gay and lesbian people, it has a tremendous impact in terms of creating awareness, understanding and acceptance of our community. American Idol has become iconic in our culture, and as Adam continues to share his story during his post-Idol career, we hope his decision to live openly and honestly inspires gay people and opens the hearts and minds of his fans and others he will continue to entertain.”
According to media reports, the season finale of American Idol 8 drew over 28.8 million viewers in the US; and the series is broadcast in over 100 countries.
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