“There are so many old-fashioned ways of looking at things, and if we want to be a progressive society, we have to start thinking in a different way. 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. I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder all the time, thinking I have to hide, being scared of being found out, putting on a front, having a beard, going down the red carpet with some chick who is posing as my girlfriend. That’s not cool, that’s not being a rock star. I can’t do that.”

American Idol is no different. Throughout this entire season I have been closely following Adam. He was my favorite from the second he sang Bohemian Rhapsody in his audition and never once disappointed me. Two minutes after his audition, I bought this domain and this site was born. I believed then, as I believe now, that Adam will be a star.

Throughout this season, Adam has been hailed the next Elvis, a potential international superstar, and the greatest Idol ever.  But not everyone is as praising.  I’ve seem numerous message board attacks on everything from his style, makeup, eyeliner, and fingernail polish (not everyone’s cup of team, I know) to his sexuality.

Here’s the thing… I think Adam is comfortable being the springboard to have debates on sexuality, style, personality.  He’s incredibly personable, an awesome interviewee, and it’s obvious he’s comfortable being hisself.  He’s amazingly talented, yet humble.  He was the favorite from the beginning and seemed to bring the competition up to his level.  He wasn’t a star struck loner, rather become part of what seems to be a very close knit group.

I’ve read over and over on message boards and even been asked on Twitter “Would you want Adam as YOUR Son/Daughters role model?”, implying that I probably wouldn’t.  I totally understand if you don’t like Adam’s music or his style.  That’s preference.  He’s a bit over the top, even for me at times and I’m a huge fan.

But calling out his character?  The guy is fabulous!  Why WOULDN’T you want him to be your son/daughters roll model?  He’s gracious in defeat and there’s nothing bad said about his character.  He’s a talented, humble, awesome person from all accounts.  So he wears makeup?  If that’s his biggest flaw, I’d like for him to be my son/daughters best friend!

I think we forget what kids see everyday… Or we pretend we don’t see. I’m a little put off by the “he got what he deserved” and “his antics caught up to him” sentiment.  I ask you, “are you being a role model?”

Oh, and just for the record, I am a Christian, white, straight, republican from Indiana. And I’m not saying Adam lost because of this… Quite to the contrary.  He’s a lighting rod and had as many die hard supporters as stark critics.  But I do think we can take something from this, as a country… Call it a “Teachable Moment”:

Roll models come in all shapes, sizes, and finger nail colors.

Oh, and by popular demand, follow me on Twitter and catch all my writing on tvLEAK.com (Twitter)

The Press Release:

New York, NY – There is nothing more valuable to the health of an eight-year-old TV series than a surprise, and for American Idol, it rarely happens. But once in a very long while, someone arrives who doesn’t just dominate American Idol, but challenges and even changes it. And that has happened with the current season’s contestant Adam Lambert. With his mop of glam-rock cobalt-blue-on-dyed-black hair, his hearing, his sneering, and his unambiguously ambiguous sexuality, Adam would have probably been brushed off early on. And there was also a time, more recently, when Adam would have made it to Hollywood but been dismissed as “too Broadway” or “too musical theater.”

Then in walked this 27-year-old from San Diego, a chameleon of a singer who was unashamedly everything that the Fox reality show thought America didn’t want. And he flattened the competition. He has been able to morph from a quasi-punk whom the judges accused of being “like something out of Rocky Horror” to a Rat Pack sharpie to a grown-up crooner. Other contestants who have tried this on Idol routinely get accused of lacking identity.

There’s always been a fracture between how you succeed on Idol and how you succeed beyond Idol once you enter a world in which being the cookie-cutter product of a network series is a liability. But Adam has taken a battering ram to that aesthetic. And he’s doing so while playing out the big issue – the gay question – with a complicated mixture of caution and shrewdness. Though Adam is widely assumed to be gay, the most he would say to EW about the public scrutiny is “I know who I am. I’m an honest guy, and I’m just going to keep singing.”

Now the question is whether an openly gay contestant can win American Idol? The question is being considered everywhere from fan blogs to The New York Times – but we’re still one openly gay contestant short of a test case. Adam’s sexuality offers a fascinating challenge to the show’s status quo. Is Idol ready for a gay winner? Possibly. After all, its British forebear Pop Idol crowned a contestant, Will Young, who came out shortly after he won. And Idol itself came close when Clay Aiken, then closeted but somebody who even house plants surmised was gay, finished second. But is Idol ready for this gay(ish) winner? Perhaps not. Clay, after all, never sang “I’m gonna give you every inch of my love” while wearing skintight pants and green glitter guyliner.

Unlike his counterparts, who commodify their lives on their sleeves, Adam isn’t talking about it. Maybe it’s still too costly to say who you are. It’s certainly costly not to. Does he feel he can’t? Does the show feel he shouldn’t? Is his choice personal or strategic? Will it pay off? And does any of this represent progress? (Cover story, Page 24)