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Loading ...Corvino: Why it matters that Adam Lambert came out
So, Adam Lambert comes out in the latest issue of Rolling Stone, and you’re thinking, “What’s next? Rolling Stone announces ‘Water is wet’”?
I get where you’re coming from. But there are deeper lessons to be gleaned.First, notice how Lambert comes out—in a music magazine, with his sexuality occupying a relatively minor portion of the article. And he does so with the candid yet indirect phrasing “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay.” The gayness is almost taken for granted—embedded in a sentence about public reaction, rather than placed front and center.
That approach reflects a larger trend in how society—and in particular, younger generations—view gayness: as a simple matter-of-fact, not something to be belabored. The contrast with Clay Aiken’s “Yes, I’m Gay” People Magazine cover is subtle but important.
And yet, second, there’s an ambivalence in the article that captures the national tone on the issue. Lambert says, “It shouldn’t matter. Except it does. It’s really confusing.”
He’s right on all three counts.
“It shouldn’t matter.” American Idol is a singing competition, and Lambert wanted to—and should—be judged on his vocal performance. His decision to wait until after Idol to answer the gay question, he claims, stemmed from his desire that his sexuality not overshadow his singing. (It may also have stemmed from a desire for votes, and I couldn’t blame him for that. It’s not as if he lied about being gay or took great pains to hide it.)
“Except it does [matter].” As Lambert himself put it in the interview, “There’s the old industry idea that you should just make sexuality a non-issue, just say your private life’s your private life, and not talk about it. But that’s bullshit, because private lives don’t exist anymore for celebrities: they just don’t.”
The music industry doesn’t just sell songs; it sells images. For better or worse, personal backstory is part of that (especially on Idol).
What’s more, gay celebrities give hope to closeted gay kids, who need to know that they’re not alone and who sometimes don’t have gay role models in their everyday lives. That’s not to say that Adam Lambert is any more representative of gay life than any other gay person. It’s just to say that his representation, such as it is, will reach more people.
“It’s really confusing.” Yes indeed. We live in a nation where, for some people, much of the time, gayness is a non-issue, and for others, virtually constantly, it’s huge. American Idol is one of those “common denominator” phenomena (say that three times fast!) where these different groups interact with each other. Often they can do so while avoiding the issue of sexuality. But not always.
And the tension here is not just between groups; it’s also internal. When Lambert says, “I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me,” he unwittingly raises a question—one that opponents often hurl at us: “Why be ‘proud’ of something that’s ‘just another part’ of you?” Why take pride in a trait that you didn’t choose and is supposed to be no big deal?
Answer: because it is a big deal. It does matter. Maybe in an ideal world it wouldn’t, but we are still far from that world.
Ironically, it’s a big deal precisely because our opponents insist on making it a big deal. Thanks to them, Adam Lambert (like every gay person) has to negotiate the issue of revealing his sexuality in a way that straight people never do. I think he’s handled it admirably.
Lambert told Rolling Stone that “I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader.” Fair enough. But it’s also fair to note that civil-rights change doesn’t only come from civil-rights leaders. It also comes from countless small acts of revelation by ordinary and not-so-ordinary people, including Adam Lambert.
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John Corvino, Ph.D. is an author, speaker, and philosophy professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. His column “The Gay Moralist” appears weekly on 365gay.com. Read more about him at www.johncorvino.com.
John will be a volunteer faculty member this summer for Campus Pride’s Leadership Camp for GLBT students. For more about Campus Pride’s work, or to make a donation on John’s behalf to support this year’s program, visit http://www.campuspride.org/.
the reason why adam was able to make it a non-issue is because of all the people that came before him that fought and gave up so much. it’s news now because it IS AN ISSUE. if it was a now issue, why would Rolling Stone even ask the question. Did they ask Chris if he was straight?…’cause that’s a non-issue!
Stand up Adam and be counted, if not for you, but all the kids that will follow in your footsteps.
You got this analysis exactly right! So fulfilling to read it. Thanks.
Phebe
What matters is that Lambert didn’t pull a Gaiken and make all kinds of denials that he subsequently had to recant.
It was pretty clear to most people that Adam was gay. I mean HELLO, it was suggested on the cover of Entertainment Weekly! But rather than spew lies to cover up he just made no effort to squelch the speculation so that when he finally did put it into print formally it had a sort of “so what” feel to it.
I don’t think that one of the first things out of any gay public figure’s mouths needs to be a formal coming out, and Adam was not in the national consciousness for very long before he actually did come out.
The closet door was open anyway so it wasn’t all the dramatic when he stepped out of it. Which is a refreshing contrast to others who have spent years on public denials only to come out (or not) after a long time.
Nice article. Glad to see some props from the gay community as so many (Perez Hilton…yes I know people don’t take him seriously, but he has an audience, and Richard Lawson over at Gawker…just to name two) have been lambasting Lambert for too long…
One little note I’d like to add, which I think may make another one of those subtle differences…women, like myself, are simply nuts about the guy. Apart from appreciating his insane talent, we are VERY ATTRACTED to him…despite everything…so there’s this blurring of the lines. Gay, straight, bi…it’s all good. Sexy is sexy.
I think David Bowie had the same effect on both sexes at the time…but it’s been sooo long and sooo Republican around here, that it just seems revolutionary now. Plus he looks like a young Elvis and Bowie never did…
They vote with us 2 to 1 if they know one of us. They can’t know one of us if we don’t come out.
Way to go, Adam! You don’t have to be a civil rights worker. It’s all connected…it all matters.
You mean all those affectations did not indicate Lambert needed to belong? Good singer, faulty premise, Dr. Corvino.
Wow!! Mr. Corvino, great way of writing!!! I love every single word you have expressed in your comment. An analysis you find very rare nowadays, when as you said: it shouldn’t matter. Adam Lambert really handled it very well, and I think it shows plenty that he is a great talent, not only at singing.
Hope it’s ok for me to say a word or two here. (I’m a straight gal and huge Adam fan and the newslink led me to this great article.) I agree with Corvino, and agree that we’ve come an impressively long way in the U.S. in the last few years on the gay rights issue. That being said, I’m embarrassed that my state of California approved Prop 8, and this shows that there is still a ways to go. From my perspective, I think Adam is doing this very smartly. If he proclaimed his sexual inclination early in the season on American Idol, I think he would have been voted off by the haters. Instead, he focused on his goal of gaining fans, exposure, and experience, and getting as far as he could on the program. Second place or not, he is now a huge force, and he’s brave enough to be open about his sexuality in a calm and drama-free way. By the way, kudos to Kris Allen for being such a good friend to him, and for being “flattered” and unthreatened by Adam’s crush on him.
As for the female fanbase and whether they’ll stick with him, newsflash: we never let reality get in the way of a good fantasy! One comment I read from a young woman said ‘the fact that he’s gay just makes him hotter’. I know– we’re weird.
Love you guys!
It doesn’t matter that Adam Lambert came out. It is an absolute non-story. What matters is the way the magazine handled it. They treated it like a non-issue, put him on the cover and made no effort to sensationalise the “revelations”.
Adam Lambert is an inconsequential figure who will be forgotten as soon as his fifteen minutes are up. What matters is the attitude of the media towards sexuality, because anyone who thinks the media has no influence on the attitudes of people is a fool.
Some publications treat homosexuality as a disease, announcing when a celebrity comes out or is outed as though they are suddenly some insidious creature. Fortunately, at least in my experience, this is a minority attitude in the media these days.
Some publications sensationalise sexuality, emblazoning it across the front page when a celebrity comes out or is outed, making it the focus of the story. In the same way, other’s speculate about the sexuality of individuals who refuse to discuss their sexuality. Are those people wrong for refusing to talk about their sex lives? ABSOLUTELY NOT. People are entitled to keep what happens in their bedroom private. The media is wrong for thinking it has the right to speculate about a person’s sexuality, for thinking that their sexual preference is even an issue.
And then there are some publications, as illustrated in this case, that treat sexuality as the non-issue it is. Unless a person is a sex worker or makes a living in some other way exploiting their sexuality, their sexual preferences are completely irrelevant. Worthy of a mention if the individual decides to talk about it, but not THE story.
It absolutely does not matter that Adam Lambert came out. What matters is how his coming out was handled by the media, and this publication in particular. He deserves no applause for coming out or the way he decided to come out. The magazine deserves applause for the progressive manner in which they chose to handle the story – or lack thereof.
60% Jere? That’s patheticly low. I’m young myself (21) and I must say, more than looking foward to “baby boomers” dying off, I eagerly await MY generation to die off. I go to a very liberal UC college and a lot of my friends (maybe 60%?) will be my friend but don’t think I deserve the right to get married. Change lies with our children, not with us. We can only help pave the way, though luckily we can pave this road to progression with shovels because the baby boomers already paved a lot of it with their bare hands in a much scarier and more hateful world.
The biggest difference in Adam’s and Clay Aiken’s comings-out is the fact the people perceive Adam as being a sexually active guy, while Clay fits more into the “Will Truman” category: sure he’s gay, but he’s also sexless. I see that, too, as progress, as it might make people get their heads out of the sand.
As for Jere’s comment about the impending deaths of baby-boomers, I’m sure nothing malicious was meant of it; it’s just that every generation seems to think that it’s been the first to make progress in a given field. Jere, hit the history books a bit; I think that if you do, your future comments might be a bit better thought-out.
Well, Adam is now gay AND bi-curious… hmmmm… I’m curious as to whether or not that is true or if he’s saying that to keep his female fanbase together.
“As the baby boomers die off our rights will keep increasing”
Well thanks for that good wish, Jere. Perhaps you don’t realize a lot of us lgbt people are baby boomers. And the work our generation and the generations before us did kind of paved the way for the rights we’ve been winning (although the fight shouldn’t have been necessary in the firsat place). I’ve worked with the current young lqbt population, and you’re a pretty great bunch, but you generally know very little about your history or the struggles you don’t have to face. Take a look at lgbt history on this 40th anniversary of Stonewall (go back a little farther, too – there is a wealth of info on the internet as well as on dvd, videotape, in books…)
That being said, Adam Lambert is doing it the right way. Everybody already knew he was gay (or they were deluding themselves if they thought otherwise) so it was a virtual non-issue. Except when people in the media tried to make it an issue. But his officiall confirmation is important because it is matter of fact. His act of coming out, whether he realizes it or not, is a very strong political and activist action. Because the more we point out that we exist, and just live openly and honestly, we are sending a very powerful message to the rest of our own little worlds. When a celebrity does it, that world is pretty big.
And as for Adam Lambert’s music – what a vocal prowess. Never out of tune, always understanding the words he sings, able to change genres with ease. I’m looking forward to hearing what he produces.
What Adam Lambert has succeeded in doing is take the wind out of the sails of our opponents because as long as they can speculate about his sexuality, they then have a platform for their homophobia. It will not affect his career or his fans, most of whom are under 30 and will be the ones buying the records and i-tunes.
Being gay is fast becoming a non-issue. The facts show that 60% of people under the age of 30 are accepting of GLBT people and believe that they should have full rights. They are tomorrow’s voters. As the baby boomers die off our rights will keep increasing and people like Adam Lambert will help make the transition easier by saying things like “I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay.” and indeed, it isn’t.
I think it’s awesome to have someone saying this in Rolling Stone. I have never been a fan of Idol, just don’t like the pop unless there’s a J in front of it. As a result I haven’t really followed all of the craziness surrounding it. This story makes me very happy though.
This strikes me as the opposite side of the Mika coin. Mika refused to declare his sexuality directly, though he at one point he made the point to an interviewer about one of his songs being about a married man who cheats on his wife with another guy. Do people not notice. So he wasn’t hiding his sexuality or making any attempt to, but highlighted the fact that everyone “needed” to know when it really shouldn’t matter. Now we have someone who doesn’t care enough to go to all that trouble, but basically feels the same way. The fact that he got a sexy cover on a mainstream magazine where he’s coming out says all I think that needs to be said about our progress in society. I know it’s easy to become impatient, but this to me wipes away any doubt that we are winning the culture war, and while not as fast as people now would like, we are winning it far faster than anyone 30, 30 or even 10 years ago through we were capable of.