Name: Adam Lambert
Age: 27
Hometown: Hollywood, CA
Claim to Fame: American Idol runner-up
Sexual Orientation: ?

For a while, there was speculation about whether American Idol’s latest runner-up was gay, but never any confirmation—until now. Lambert has officially come out in Rolling Stone magazine, saying “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay.” But why all the fuss in the first place?

Maybe it started with Idol’s season two runner-up, Clay Aiken, who kept the fact that he was gay a secret. In an interview with People magazine years after he was on Idol, Aiken credited his newborn son as the inspiration to stop hiding about his sexual orientation.

Perhaps then, Lambert’s coming out is a step in the right direction: he neither shied away from the rumors nor made his orientation a huge deal. And whether he planned to or not, this can be seen as encouragement to gay, lesbian and bisexual people—during Gay Pride month, no less—to be out and proud.

Want to make a safe space for teens to be out and proud at your school? Check out Nick’s story on forming a gay-straight alliance (GSA).

—Anita Modi, 17, Staff Writer

Tags: gender, GLBTQ, homophobia

This entry was posted on Friday, June 12, 2009 at 11:02 am and is filed under Everyday Sex Ed. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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