LGBTQ

February 1st, 2012 | 5:10 pm by Kate Spencer (@katespencer)

Adam Lambert: “Ignorant People” Make Being Gay Hard

A video of Adam Lambert performing “Outlaws of Love” — a song we’re thrilled to hear on his upcoming album, Trespassing — at a concert in Montreal found its way onto Youtube this past summer. In the clip, the singer talks about “acceptance” being a big inspiration behind his song-writing, specifically for “Outlaws of Love.” We asked Adam about it during our recent sit-down.

“I think one of the things about doing this as a career is that I’m able to give people strength and encouragement that feel like outsiders, especially being openly gay,” he told us. “But one of the things I haven’t gotten to do is sing about how it sucks sometimes, how it hurts, and the pain and the struggle that the LGBT community goes through on so many different levels. And that’s what this song is about.
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August 16th, 2011 | 2:10 pm by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

Adam Levine Calls Out American Idol Over LGBTQ Contestants

If there is anything Adam Levine loves more than showcasing his muscular torso, it’s battling homophobia. God bless America that he can do both at the same time. In addition to discussing his gay brother and musical career, Adam Levine’s gay right comments in Out have him putting American Idol on blast for being less than open about having LGBTQ performers. “What’s always pissed me off about Idol is wanting to mask that, for that to go unspoken,” the Maroon 5 singer fumes, pointing out that The Voice had 4 gay contestants this season. “C’mon. You can’t be publicly gay? At this point? On a singing competition? Give me a break. You can’t hide basic components of these people’s lives. The fact that The Voice didn’t have any qualms about being completely open about it is a great thing.”  Somewhere Clay Aiken is in the process of leaving his agent 2,000 voice messages, telling him to get him on this show, stat.

Levine returns next season to join the other The Voice judges Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton. Levine will concede, however, “I can’t f— with American Idol. It’s a cultural institution. On The Voice, we just care about a different list of things. It’s for a different type of person, I guess.” Right, for example the type of person who can actually sing. Yes, we just went there.

July 5th, 2011 | 5:46 pm by Halle Kiefer (@hallekiefer)

Lady Gaga Reminds Everyone That She’s The B In LGBTQ

As is obvious to anyone who’s heard the “Born This Way” or really any complete sentence Lady Gaga has to say, Mother Monster has positioned herself as the pointy diva-ish face of global LGBTQ rights. But just in case anyone forgot, Lady Gaga’s bisexuality comes up in her interview with Advocate, where she reminds the interviewer that she too is part of the gay rights alphabet. “The b letter,” Gaga says, explaining “My love for my gay fans is just pure, authentic love for them as supporters of me from the beginning, and me feeling connected to their struggles as someone who is a part of their fight.” So we’ll just go ahead and legally change the term “gay rights” to “Gaga rights” on these documents here, just to make the change-over complete…

In addition to giving Americans a refresher course on her personal preferences, Gaga praises the work of Madonna and Barbra Streisand before lashing out at critiques who claim her interest in LGBTQ is little more than a marketing ploy, despite Lady Gaga’s Target deal going south as a result of their potentially anti-gay activity. “To say that I would use the gay community to sell records is probably one of the most ridiculous statements anyone can make about me as a person. I would say the top thing I think about every single day of my life, other than my fans, loving the music, and my family being healthy, is social justice and equality,” Gaga says, later adding. “What the f— it’s all about is if I can write one song that could change one person’s life.” Oh also, the costumes. Predominantly the costumes.