The survey found that 55% of adult gays and lesbians read some kind of blog, compared to 38% of adult heterosexuals.

The survey from Harris Interactive comprised 3,000 U.S. adults, of whom 404 self identified as gay or lesbian.

Similar results were found regarding social networking sites. Fifty-five percent of the gay and lesbian adults surveyed said they were members of Facebook, compared to 46% of heterosexual adults who are on the site. Results for MySpace were similar as well, with 43% of gay and lesbian adults being members compared to just 30% of heterosexuals.

“In several years capturing trends, we see again that gays and lesbians are not only looking to stay well informed but also to expand their key social, professional and personal connections online”, said Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications. “As companies work to make the most of their advertising budgets in the current economic climate, blogs and social networking sites are an even more powerful cross-section of opportunities today when reaching out to this market.”

You can read the full Harris Interactive survey results here.

I’ll say it anyway because, barely minutes after Kris Allen was announced as the “upset” winner of American Idol, my Facebook feed was loaded with status updates declaring Adam’s loss a “hate crime,” with people vowing to take the streets to protest (on the eve of the anniversary of the White Night riots, no less).

I trust that their histrionics were limited to message boards, and that the streets are safe from drama. There will soon enough be events worth marching about.

None of which is to diminish the importance of Lambert’s nearly winning America’s blockbuster musical talent competition as a more-or-less openly gay performer. Sure, it’s not DOMA, or DADT, or ENDA. But if greater issues always displaced lesser ones, there would be no justification for watching American Idol in the first place—or for art of any sort.

As for those who think that a contestant’s sexuality is nobody’s business, I’ll buy that the moment we apply the same standard to straight performers. Kris Allen’s wife, explicitly identified, was a regular presence. Third-placer Danny Gokey, as we heard repeatedly, was a widower. Family backstory is standard Idol fare. But Lambert, as Entertainment Weekly’s Mark Harris aptly put it, “was apparently made by the hand of God and left in a basket backstage at Wicked.”

Should Lambert have beat Allen? Lambert is the clearly more talented singer and performer, though Allen is not without his charms.

Lambert is also queer—in the broad sense of that term. Put aside the internet pictures of him in drag making out with other guys. Many Idol voters were unaware of such pictures, despite their being aired, for example, by Bill O’Reilly on Fox News. (O’Reilly did so under the guise of “Will America have a problem with this?” but it’s hard to believe he wasn’t trying precisely to provoke such a problem.)

Many Idol voters surely also missed Lambert’s skillful non-answers to media questions about his sexuality. ”I know who I am,” he told Entertainment Weekly when asked the gay question. “I’m an honest guy, and I’m just going to keep singing.”

But no viewer could miss Lambert’s flamboyant costumes, his outrageous high notes, or his eyeliner. Whatever his romantic interests, Adam Lambert reads queer. And that’s new territory for Idol. While Clay Aiken, the last gay near-winner, projected “wholesome,” Lambert screams “edgy.” (It’s a pitch-perfect scream, held impossibly long, which pierces the audience.)

And that’s why, despite Lambert’s superior vocal skills, Allen’s victory was unsurprising. American Idol contestants win by getting the most votes, and the average American doesn’t typically vote for queer. That’s part of what makes it queer, after all.

Nonetheless, Lambert seems no less a victor, and I hope he’s basking in his glory right now, eyeliner and all.

He made it to the final round while unabashedly being himself (in his appearance and performance, if not in direct response to interview questions). He has solidified his reputation as a consummate entertainer. He will no doubt go on to have a great career, far more successful than Allen’s, and probably even more successful than the career he would have had were he constrained by the packaging that comes with the “Idol” title.

Meanwhile, he has taught America something, if not about gays, then at least about “queers.” He has “mad skills”, yes—but he was also unfailingly polite, consistently expressing gratitude for the behind-the-scenes folks who developed his arrangements. He graciously expressed admiration for his competitors, including Allen. He was edgy, but not off-putting—all of which made it easier for people to see the main thing: his tremendous talent.

Besides injecting new life into Idol, Lambert also appears to have changed its culture. Idol has always struck me as a homophobic show, not just because of the noticeable absence of openly gay performers, but also because of the juvenile gay innuendo that regularly takes place between judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest. That innuendo seems to have dramatically decreased this season—no doubt partly due to Lambert.

It will be interesting to see, now that Lambert must shift his attention from votes to sales, whether he chooses to talk more explicitly about his sexuality. I look forward to what he has to say. But I look forward even more to what he’s going to sing.

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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 year 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/.

Facebook, the popular online social network, is being used as a tool by some claimants to help prove their sexual orientation to immigration officials in Canada.

“Sexuality has always been very complicated and when you have to prove it as a matter of life and death you will use any resource you have available to you,” says Diego Macias of Among Friends, a Toronto-based gay and lesbian refugee support group.

Those seeking refuge after 1992 were permitted to claim status based on their sexual orientation and required to prove their claim to the Immigration and Refugee Board.

Wearing their sexuality on their sleeve was never an option for many of these people back in their home countries, so scrounging up suitable evidence to support their claims may be difficult.

Claimants cite torture, rape, and even death if they are returned home.

So they have to get inventive.

The group leader tells his members to use technology to their advantage and feels Facebook can help demonstrate involvement in the gay and lesbian community.

“During Pride we took hundreds of pictures and we have a Facebook group and when people sign up to that group we encourage them to show their membership to the IRB member.”

In more than 75 countries people face jail, or worse, for having gay sex. Acts of homosexuality are punishable by death in several countries, including Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Sudan.

In many other Muslim countries homosexuality carries prison sentences, fines, or corporal punishment.

A homosexual person in Malaysia could spend 20 years in prison. In Egypt, openly gay men are subject to “sexual immorality” charges punishable by jail time.

Last week in Winnipeg a federal court judge upheld a decision to ship a Nigerian man back to his native country because the IRB ruled his claim of being gay was a hoax.

He says his life is in danger if he goes home.

Experts say it can take different components to paint a convincing picture of one’s sexual orientation for the Immigration and Refugee Board.

“I have used Facebook (because) people put stuff on there about themselves and who they are, and in a relationship with,” says immigration lawyer El-Farouk Khaki, who specializes in representing gay and lesbian refugee claimants.

Khaki explains how many in this situation have spent years – even decades – trying to hide their sexuality back in their country of origin, so any glimpse into a claimant’s new life can help.

“Basically it’s like a jigsaw puzzle and you just try and take the little pieces here and there and you try and construct a larger picture of a person’s life,” he explains.

Khaki says he often provides his clients with a list of items that can help prove their sexual orientation to the immigration board _ and there is very little off-limits.

Claimants can use letters from family and friends, pictures at Pride festivities and memberships on gay chat rooms.

Incorporating one of the most used web-based networks in the world, with 90 million members, is just the next logical step says Khaki.

“Before there was Facebook, I was using other profiles,” says Khaki, giving examples of Gaydar.com and adam4adam, used often for personal ads.

Evidence can come in many forms, agrees Charles Hawkins, spokesman for the Immigration and Refugee Board.

“A refugee claimant may not have (typical) documentation to support their claim” and individuals may have to be more resourceful in their submissions, says Hawkins.

“A member of the board can accept any relevant evidence and then assign an appropriate value to that evidence,” he adds.

With Macias’ support group at more than 45 members and more coming through the doors every week, he says he will continue to use Facebook to support refugee claims.

“I do foresee the IRB saying this is not an acceptable form of evidence,” says Macias

“But until then I am going to keep on using it.”