American Idle?

Well, my favorite American Idol contestant Adam Lambert lost last night. He was easily the best vocalist of the season. And even with his second-place showing, this marks the first time an openly gay contestant has made it this far….whoops! Can’t say that!

Well I kinda just did. But Adam hasn’t really said it. And he still may wait awhile, that coy son of a gun. When he was cornered by the paparazzi a couple of weeks ago and asked, “So if you win, how would it feel to be the first..?” the interviewer veered into silence and hoped Adam will fill in the oh-so-obvious blank. But Adam just smiled and pretended to be stumped. “First what?” he responded with a smirk.

On one hand, Adam’s ascension speaks volumes on how far the country has come in its attitudes on sexuality. Here’s a contestant with all the gay tropes – spiky hair, sequined jackets, super tight pants and jeans, painted fingernails and more eyeliner than Tyra Banks. Oh, and there was that picture of Adam playing tonsil hockey with another man blasted on the Internet. Yet he sailed through the competition, soon surpassing Danny Gokey to become the favorite.

It’s worth remembering that American Idol, at least until recently, was a red state show. The first five winners were from the South. The winners were solidly middle-of-the road, easy-to-root-for types with inspirational backstories. No one was ever too edgy, certainly not “theatrical,” the adjectives the judges and the media loved to use to describe Adam when they weren’t using “Broadway.”

On the other hand, his sexuality, which infuses his work, becomes something forbidden for discussion or acknowledgment. And it’s an odd and perverse step backward for us. Did Adam worry perhaps that being more out would have cost him votes and he wouldn’t have been the runner-up? Did he not want to be an instant role model? Was he already worried about how he could be marketed (You know his CD will drop in about a year, and he has a good chance of outselling Kris Allen)?

Some may think people like me who make a point about his sexual orientation are the ones stepping backward. Haven’t we come to a place where it doesn’t matter? Well, not quite.

Haven’t you noticed that American Idol goes crazy with hometown footage that mines the personal stories of his contestants? I heard 500 times that Danny lost his young wife to cancer not even a few months before his audition. I learned about Kris’ wife and church group. But Adam I learned hardly anything about. Yeah, I saw his proud parents, but everyone has those.

American Idol studiously avoided delving into Adam’s personal life. What are his friends like? Where does he go for fun? What are his hobbies? It’s like everyone was complicit in the code of silence.

If we embrace Adam, than why is there a hesitancy to embrace all of him, least of all by Adam himself? Just today at Entertainment Weekly online, a reporter directly asked Adam about his sexuality. Adam said, “Like I said, I think speculation keeps things very, very interesting.” He’s still not budging.

Some blogs have already speculated whether homophobia played a part in dark horse Kris stealing the crown. That’s not too likely. First, Kris is actually talented, very cute, and connects with the audience. And he was an underdog, and we love our underdogs. Besides, if homophobia were that rampant, Adam’s campy persona would have robbed him of votes a long while ago.

If there’s anyone holding anything back it’s Adam himself – and American Idol itself. It’s ridiculous that a talented queer singer is hiding in plain sight.