How Gay Does Adam Lambert Really Need To Be?

Adam Lambert may not have won American Idol, but you wouldn't know that from the wave of publicity this week, all in anticipation of his first album dropping. But the coverage this week had less to do with his musical abilities and more to do with his sexual orientation.

Not whether he's gay, of course. That's old news and about as shocking as finding out that school buses are yellow.

No, the question this week was whether Adam Lambert is gay enough. And it all sparks from an Out Magazine exclusive where the editor says that Lambert's handlers and his record company laid out all the stops to make sure that he didn't appear too gay, or get asked any gay questions. Turns out that record execs still worry a whole heck of a lot that being too gay will kill your profit margin at the iTunes store.

Out Magazine's editor, Aaron Hicklin, really went to town on Lambert and the music industry folks who surround him. Hicklin says that for Lambert to allow his handlers to dictate how gay he can appear, as well as censor questions from journalists that might have to deal with gay rights, does a disservice to his LGBT fan base and also fosters a certain sense of shame about sexuality.

In 2009, do we really have to worry about fan bases being skeeved out by someone's sexual orientation?

Last night Lambert fired back with an interview in Entertainment Weekly, where he not only said that Out Magazine was crying wolf, but that they were trying to drum up controversy for the sake of selling magazines. Ouch.

"I’m not being puppeted around. I didn’t want to jump onto a gay magazine as my first thing, because I feel like that’s putting myself in a box and limiting myself. It was my desire to stay away from talking about certain political and civil rights issues because I’m not a politician. I’m an entertainer," said Lambert. "I didn’t feel comfortable, so I asked my publicist to ask the interviewer to stay away from the political questions. I take full responsibility for that. I think that the editor has his agenda and has his opinions, which I respect, but they’re not necessarily my opinions. And I wish there was a little respect for that. Not every gay man is the same gay man."

Lambert is the most successful openly gay musical artist to hit the scene in a really long time, and his first album hasn't even dropped yet. He's got a platform like no other, and could speak on one of the leading civil rights issues of our time with a megaphone and audience that most people would envy.

But he doesn't want to. And it's a missed opportunity.

But it's a missed opportunity that LGBT rights activists should live with, simply because it doesn't make sense for our movement to eat our own when we've got so many other battles to fight.

And it's in fighting those battles that we'll eventually change this culture that says that an openly gay celebrity better stay the hell out of political discussions or risk losing his career, his fame, and his money.

(Photo courtesy of graphicshunt.com)