They may be trying to help his career, but all their really doing is creating a problem where none existed in the first place.

Adam Lambert, the American Idolrunner up that just released his solo album was choosen as one of Out magazine’s Out 100 for 2009.  The only catch is Adam’s team apparently doesn’t want him to appear as being too gay, fearing it could impact the bottom line.  

What are they, headless?  Have they seen his album cover?  Too little, too late folks.  That particular gay cruise ship has already sailed. 

There was the Details magazine interview with photos of Lambert making out with a female model, and some of the content of the Out interview seemed odd for a gay publication, asking the singer about his experiences with women, how he feels about it and how far hes gone in the past.  TMI.

It looks like the handlers are trying to paint their product as bi, rather than gay, and while I get that the kids these days don’t like labels, this is more of marketing ploy.  They feel Adam is too gay for the straights, but in doing so not letting him be gay enough for the gays. Out’s editor in chief, Arron Hicklin, wrote a blunt letter to the singer in the very issue he was on the cover of .  A portion of it below….

We’re curious whether you know that we made cover offers for you before American Idol was even halfway through its run. Apparently, Out was too gay, even for you. There was the issue of what it would do to your record sales, we were told. Imagine! A gay musician on the cover of a gay magazine. What might the parents think! It’s only because this cover is a group shot that includes a straight woman that your team would allow you to be photographed at all — albeit with the caveat that we must avoid making you look “too gay.” (Is that a medical term? Just curious). Luckily, you seemed unaware that a similar caution was issued to our interviewer.

Perhaps we should have had you and Cyndi in a tongue lock. That would be radical. It’s odd, because this magazine has done covers with Pete Wentz and Lady Gaga — getting straight men and women to do Out is easy these days. It gives them cred. Getting gay stars like yourself is another matter. Much easier to stick you in Details, where your homosexuality can be neutralized by having you awkwardly grabbing a woman’s breast and saying, “Women are pretty.” So are kittens, Adam, but it doesn’t mean you have to make out with them. Imagine how much more radical it would have been to go down on a guy instead of that six-foot Barbie. We don’t think you would have a problem with that — why should you? — but your record label would, and letting them dictate the terms is the very opposite of rock ’n’ roll. And did you read the article? You would think your entire fan base was made up of women and heterosexual men, or “straight dudes” as the writer describes them, just so we can all be clear. No mention of your gay fans, which is kind of disappointing, don’t you think, given what your success represents?

Out has since got a lot of flack from Adam’s fans over this.  While I get the editor’s point, the tone of it implies Lambert is in on it.  Perhaps he’s merely compliant, but if that’s the case, then he and his team are doing everyone, including Lambert himself,  a disservice.  Frankly, I think his fan base is composed mostly of people who could care less or one way or the other.  It’s simply not an issue for most people, perhaps the thought process behind how he’s allowed to come across should follow suit.

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