1) You don't know what position he's in: It's no secret that potentially queer artists are often hassled into signing contracts or being forced to vow to keep their sexuality identity on the mum in order to secure a recording contract. When you are faced with the opportunity to do what you have perhaps always wanted to do -- to sit down in a professional recording studio and record your own music (well, at least your own voice for newly minted "Idol" alums) -- you cannot understand how alluring that opportunity is. You also can't understand what its like to have authoritative figures all around you asking or demanding that you do not officially claim a gay identity publicly. He may well be in a situation where his contract or his opportunity to record an album depends on that silence. He may also simply feel on his own that it is best to keep mum in order to preserve a future career in the recording industry -- and we have every reason to believe that this is not misguided thinking.
2) Fuck off, self-righteous bitches: As if! Don't you remember that publicly declaring being queer is, like, not always the easiest thing to do? In this case, it seems like Lambert has a very public history of acting queer, but we really at the end of the day don't know what's up with his personal life. So get over yourselves. It's his prerogative and his life at the end of the day, and it's not like all these whiners have proven themselves to be gay martyrs for the cause their entire lives. We all make difficult decisions at one point or another which may entail compromising our political commitments because we believe that compromise will further our opportunities in life. That might mean trying to butch it up for a job interview, or conveniently leaving out our queer activism in our application to a prestigious scholarship.
3) It's not his responsibility to be a role model: I know that we all want every famous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or otherwise queer person to step up and be a "role model" for young people. But if you think young queers everywhere can't respect or look up to Adam Lambert simply because he has not declared his sexuality, you fundamentally misunderstand the nature of how this shit works. Sure, coming out publicly could be a powerful political message that could impact people who respect and/or idolize him -- but at the end of the day: 1) Not "officially" coming out is not a hindrance to him being a role model, for realz; 2) And even so, it's not Lambert's responsibility to come out. Being queer doesn't come with some responsibility that you must adopt a pristine, pure politics 24/7. There is no such politics to adopt. We can certainly want him to come out of the closet, but being gay is not sufficient a reason to obligate him to do so.
Just a few words. It's been on my mind.
