People keep asking me why I haven’t mentioned that Forrest Black and I have some of our photography of American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert in the current issues of Star Magazine and Rolling Stone, so I suppose I’ll mention it now. The internet has been abuzz for weeks now that Adam Lambert was going to “come out” in Rolling Stone issue 1081. So many publications were reporting that Rolling Stone was going to report that Adam Lambert says he is gay that Rolling Stone had to rush to put the digital image of the cover, lensed by brilliant top photographer Matthew Rolston, online well before the issue hit newsstands. Which seems very meta-something.

For some reason, a number of folks desperately wanted to be the primary source for settling speculation on Adam Lambert’s sexual orientation. Forrest Black and I photographed Adam Lambert kissing Brad “Cheeks” Bell. In point of fact, all of the supposedly scandalous images of Adam Lambert kissing a male were of him kissing the same guy, Brad “Cheeks” Bell. However, as many fans seems to find boy/boy smooching inconclusive and seemed to perhaps care about orientation, I didn’t want any part of anything which might hurt Adam Lambert’s chances of winning American Idol. I heart Alex Burton, my editor at Star Magazine, because the deal he and I made for the first round of images he ran was that there would be no outing of Adam Lambert in the issue and Alex Burton, my man of the Led Zeppelin tattoo, kept his word and kept the article classy and positive. Word is that Star Magazine offered Brad “Cheeks” Bell $2,000 to tell all and Cheeks declined, saying that he’d turned down higher dollar offers than that and he would only ever do a positive interview about Adam Lambert.

Unsubstantiated rumor is that Rolling Stone ponied up $50,000 for Adam Lambert to tell them his sexual preference first. Rolling Stone contributing editor Vanessa Grigoriadis, my fellow Wesleyan University alum, did a great job presenting Adam Lambert as a whole interesting person with visceral prose and probing but respectful questions. In the interview, Adam Lambert tells Vanessa Grigoriadis that he waited to come out in Rolling Stone because he felt he could express himself in context there. Some of the context, however, is that he didn’t lose his virginity (presumably to a man) until he was twenty-one and that he’d made out with girls while drunk at nightclubs and was now somewhat bi-curious about what it would be like to have sex with a woman.

Rolling Stone has always had some of the best, most incisive and most intriguing interviews of any magazine (and of course Wesleyan grads tend to be terrific writers), so it is no surprise this is a good one. But I’m left uncomfortable that the issue of a sexual label was such a big deal. I feel like we don’t have enough words to describe sexual orientation for the terms gay and straight to have much meaning.

If Adam Lambert suddenly got a girlfriend, after years of going out with the same sex, would that mean he did not count as gay any more? How about if he just occasionally fooled with really inspiring women who really got him as a person, but only had relationships with men? I realize that I travel in circles which are perhaps a bit ahead of the curve on sexual openness. But I know men who are gay-identified who sleep with women from time to time. I know women who are bi-identified who only have relationships with men but also have sex with women. I know men who are straight-identified who will have sex with men provided there is a sexual configuration of enough people for it to count as an orgy. Everyone can think of the prison example for same sex relationships among people who do not identify as gay or lesbian. Etc. I think that maybe 10% of the population is strongly hardwired to enjoy only the same gender and maybe 10% of the population is strongly hardwired to enjoy only the opposite sex. But most people, in the right situation, are more fluid than that. They might have a preference, even a strong preference, but, in the right situation, the preference won’t dictate their actions.

At any rate, I feel most human sexuality is too complex for a tidy label to be genuinely descriptive. I thought it was cool that Adam Lambert told Vanessa Grigoriadis and Rolling Stone, “I loved it that this season girls went crazy for me . . . As far as I’m concerned, it’s all hot. Just because I’m not sticking it in there doesn’t mean that I don’t find it beautiful.” There is a certain combination of flamboyance and rawness there which is the reason so many of my friends were rooting for Adam Lambert on American Idol.

And it is a flamboyance and rawness which utterly transcends sexual orientation. I think that general America is far more afraid of that rock star counterculture essence than they are of male homosexuality. Senior Blue Blood writer Will Judy made the excellent point that, although Adam Lambert was runner-up to Kris Allen, rather than winner, on American Idol, “Lambert got to live my ultimate superdream from 5th grade though. Fronted Kiss AND Queen in the same night. (And KILLED, of course)” which is a really fine summation.

Last week, I started seeing all kinds of links in to Blue Blood from American Idol sites. As I have not been watching American Idol this season and have never covered American Idol on this site before, this seemed peculiar until we started receiving emails with subjects like Adam Lambert Nude, Adam Lambert Gay Kiss, Where can I find naked pics of Adam Lambert? and suchlike. Actually, this still seemed a bit peculiar until People Magazine got in touch with us and emailed us the photos we shot which everyone was talking about.

Now, of course I recall Forrest Black and yours truly shooting American Idol finalist contestant Adam Lambert. He is pretty memorable. I have also photographed guys before. Naked guys even. This does not mean that every single person, out of the thousands I have ever pointed a camera at, has stripped down at some point in the shooting process. In case this is not already blindingly clear, allow me to state categorically that we photographed Adam Lambert and Cheeks at a costume event sponsored by Blue Blood and promoted by Xian. Everybody at the event was clothed and most were even costumed. There was nothing scandalous about Adam Lambert being dressed up glam; he looked great and it was a costume party. So, no, I do not have any naughtier pictures than the portraits in this Adam Lambert gallery.

To all the ignorant prudes who hide their own bigotry behind platitudes about what “other” people in “flyover states” will think, I don’t think a few sexy images have exactly hurt the careers of any modern (like post invention of photography) musicians. Anybody heard of David Bowie, Keith Richards, Marilyn Manson, Twiggy, Madonna, Deborah Harry, Slash, Jeff Beck, Lily Allen, Katy Perry, Tommy Lee, Siouxsie Sioux, Steve Jones, Zack de la Rocha, Tom Morello, Jared Louche, Eddie Vedder, Dave Navarro, Flea, or Anthony Kiedis? These are all performers who have been immortalized on camera either nude or kissing someone of the same gender or, in most cases, both. Do any of these smug I-am-open-minded-but-what-about-the-middle-America-frauen people seriously think that nobody from say Iowa ever bought an album by the Rolling Stones, Motley Crue, Pearl Jam, Rage Against the Machine, or the Red Hot Chili Peppers?

Discussing the existence of photos of Adam Lambert kissing, Access Hollywood Dish of Salt interviewer “Laura [Saltzman] mentioned she had never been [to Burning man], Adam gave her a wicked little smile and said, “We are going to the Burning Man– I might kiss you too!”” Additionally, in the interview, Adam Lambert said, “You know what, I have nothing to hide. I am who I am. And this is about singing… nothing else.” So he can sing, he’s gorgeous, he has remarkably impressive presence, and he owns who he is and makes no apologies. I like that and I hope everyone reading this likes those traits in a person too.

Last week, the American Idol Judges had the following comments on Adam Lambert’s performance of “Black or White” (The theme of the episode was Michael Jackson.): Man-in-charge Simon Cowell said, “That was in a totally different league than everyone else.” Performer Paula Abdul said, “You’ve got the whole package going on.” Producer Randy Jackson said, “You could make a record right now and it would sail right to the top.” And the new judge songwriter Kara DioGuardi said, “I hope Michael Jackson was watching you tonight.” So I kind of think the good guy has a good chance of winning, having what it takes to be a star and deserving it and all.

If you happen to feel like tuning in to American Idol tonight, it would be awesome if some of the tens of thousands of people who read BlueBlood.net could cast some votes for Adam Lambert. Tune in Tuesdays 8pm/7pm central and Wednesdays 9pm/8pm central on FOX.

When the feminist publications like Feministe and the rock publications like AntiQuiet, and the news overlords like MSNBC all agree on something, it is safe to assume the topic is something as definite as the sky is generally blue. In this instance, pretty much everyone agrees that famous homophobe Katy Perry’s “I Kissed A Girl” video is a lot like a tremendously sucky version of a Girls Gone Wild set up.

More than a decade ago, Jill Sobule sang a bouncy tune, of the same name, about a woman who is titillated and unsure and excited about the new experience of having kissed another woman. Neither video shows a lot of lip-locking because both were intended for MTV airplay and, as a society, we tend to still view same sex kisses as potentially unsuitable material for kids. I think there will come a time when the idea of two women kissing being scandalous is as quaint as the idea of two people with different ethnic or racial backgrounds kissing is now. Massachusetts, where gay marriage is legal, recently had to work on their legislation because they had some old laws on the books to prevent black/white couples from other states from using Massachusetts to legitimize their otherwise illegal unions.

Because progress really can and does happen on so many fronts, the lameness of third wave feminism never ceases to disappoint me. If Katy Perry thinks it will turn guys on to tell them that she had a dream about kissing a girl, but, like, ew, not that she’d ever really do that . . . well, it probably will turn guys on.

Most guys I know, who would freak if their girl made out with another guy, think they will be just fine with it if she makes out with another girl. In real life, guys often beg to see this and then get really upset when the opportunity actually arises. Like it never crossed their minds that the chicks might actually be into each other, so then they get belatedly jealous. Personally, I think the swinger relationship model is at least internally consistent, but it is just silly to have the notion that it is totally cool for your girlfriend to kiss other girls, so long as she doesn’t like it. The idea of chicks kissing chicks because they really want to kiss a guy and need to get his attention . . . well, I guess I just think it is better to be more goal-directed towards what you really want.

Gentlemen, before your girlfriend starts kissing girls, decide whether or not you are cool with swinging. In most cases, the other party having a vagina doesn’t really mean it does not count, unless you are making your darling do something she hates. Of course, there is also the possibility that your girl is indifferent one way or the other to whomever she fools around with. To her, getting down with anyone may not be worthy of a musical anthem because it is a matter of some indifference and just really no big deal. This may include doing it with you.

Ladies, do not ever plant your beautiful sexy lips on anyone who would sing a song which manages to be sexist, male-bashing, and homophobic like “Ur So Gay”. Katy Perry does not deserve your kisses.