Q – Why did you choose not to address your sexuality on the show?
I think the photos did a lot of the talking for me. After seeing those pictures, if you don’t understand what my sexuality is, I think you need to go back to the drawing board and learn about what boys kissing boys means.
I am gay, and I am very comfortable with it. I have been for a long time. I think it’s funny that people are like, “He’s been hiding it”. I’ve always been out. I avoided talking about [my sexuality] on Idol, but I never lied about it and I never denied it, because that would go against my principles. I chose to keep my private life a little more private while I was on this show. And that’s a choice. I reserve the right to talk about my own sexuality. I wasn’t ready to address everything that I’d ever done and reveal the most intimate details of my personality [on the show] because I was just getting used to being a figure of the public eye. I feel like, “Okay, now people see me as an entertainer, so now I’m willing to let them in a little bit more on my personal life”. It feels really good now to just state the fact and just move forward, [so that people don't] keep wondering about, “What does he do?” you know, “With whom?”
I was a little worried about the pictures affecting my chances in the competition when they first came out. I don’t think they did. I think I got to the end of the competition for a reason. I think people are ready now in this time and in this age to overlook it. The show is about finding great singers, it’s not about, like, who has the moral high ground, it is about finding the best singer. It’s not a pageant.
Q – Will being gay hurt your career?
A – I’m sure that there are some people that are turned off by it. And to be frank, those aren’t the kind of people I want to sing to anyway. I want to sing to people who are open-minded and accept music. It’s not about my lifestyle; that just happens to be my sexual preference, it doesn’t mean that it’s going to affect the type of music that I’m going to make or the type of performer that I am. I would hope that people are in a more progressive mindset right now, I know that our country as a whole is in a more progressive place than it was when the show started 8 years ago. I think that if you like it you like it, and if you don’t, well, there’s nothing I can do to control it. [interview found here].
On the media interest in his sexuality:
It’s surprising because I don’t think twice about my sexuality. I’ve been living this way for the whole time that I’ve been living in L.A, for the past eight years. It’s a funny reminder that not everyone is as comfortable with it as I am.
On the moment when Adam came out to his mother:
My brother was involved in this speech and debate tournament and we were on our way home. There had been this monologue that had been performed about a young man coming out of the closet, and his parents had rejected him and kicked him out of the house because of it. And that fictional guy got into a lot of trouble and got beaten up & on drugs, and all the things that might happen if your family system doesn’t support you.
That resonated with my Mom. In the car on the way home Mom looked over at me and she was like, ‘So, do you have a girlfriend?’ And I said, ‘No’, and she said, ‘Do you want one?’ I was like, ‘Mmmm, no’. She said, ‘Well, do you want to have a boyfriend?’ And I went, ‘That could be nice’. She was like, ‘Oh, I’ve always known’. And I was like, “Well, why didn’t you ask me sooner?” And she was like, “I didn’t want to push you!” And we connected on it and I opened up and it was a really, really good moment. From then on out I felt like I was really being myself with my family.
I think it’s important to just be open; it’s very liberating. Lacking secrets really helps growth. If you keep a bunch of secrets and skeletons in your closet you’re not going to grow and you’re not going to grow and you’re not going to be the best person you can be. So just wear it proudly and let your colors shine. I don’t understand why people are so afraid.
“I don’t want to the poster boy for some cause”:
I think some viewers at home wanted me to win for their own reasons because they were rooting for something and they attached a lot of social pressure onto, “What does it mean if this guy wins?” It’s not about that, guys; it’s about singing. I don’t want to be [the poster boy for some cause]. I have my own personal beliefs that I feel very strongly about. But I don’t know, at this point in my life, if this is a platform for that, I think this is more about music. [video of interview found here].
“I am proud of my sexuality”:
I am proud of my sexuality. I embrace it.
“I was scared” of my sexuality during school:
“[As a kid] I loved singing and dancing and playing dress-up and it’s really not a big surprise. I had like an odd fascination with glitter, so there you go. See, now I’m stereotyping myself. Great.”
In middle school, “I started to realize I wasn’t like every other boy, and I was just in my own head, tripping myself out”. PE classes stoked his anxiety, “I didn’t want to be naked and vulnerable. I was scared of my sexuality.” Even after he came out to his mother, “I didn’t feel comfortable in my own skin. I didn’t feel sexy.”
“When you are a young man or woman, and you are in the closet, chances are that you might not be experiencing things that other kids in high school are experiencing. I mean, in high school it’s the first time that you have your first date, and your first love, and your first kiss. I didn’t have any of that”.
Lambert says he’s “finally checked in to my self-worth for the first time in my life, and the fact that it has coincided with ‘Idol’ is so sweet.” Sure, he still has his self doubts, but, as he put it, “for the most part, when I look in the mirror now, I finally see somebody who can do something cool.”
Kris talks about Adam coming out in Rolling Stone:
I think he’s happier that he can be himself and it’s nice. Adam is who he is and he’s not afraid. I support him in whatever he does.
Kris:”It’s not so much what you believe in, it’s who you are”:
I don’t know why beliefs have to mess up friendships and mess up people’s ideas about everyone else. People are people, it’s not so much what you believe in, it’s who you are. It was never a problem with us. He was Jewish. It wasn’t about religion. I wasn’t going to judge him for, like, not being a Christian. He’s a great guy, I mean, seriously, like, one of the best guys I’ve known.
They made the guyliner vs. the guy next door thing, and we were like, why can’t Adam be the guy next door? We hated it. We really wanted it to be about the music. There are a lot of things about me and Adam that are the same.
We were friends from the very beginning. People were confused, “how are someone like you, and him, really good friends?” It wasn’t so much flack, it was just, people were weirded out by it. I wasn’t weirded out about it. Neither was he.
[Watch full interview with Kris here].
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