Culture

Florida: Gay publisher blasts GLAAD for giving award to Adam Lambert

Apr 19 2013
Written by Scott Roberts

The decision of US LGBT advocacy group GLAAD to honour pop star Adam Lambert with an award in San Francisco in May has angered the boss of a Florida gay publication.

In March, GLAAD selected Lambert to be the recipient of the Davidson/Valentini Award for its upcoming ceremony in San Francisco.

The organisation cited the singer’s “continued success as one of the world’s best-selling pop stars [which] shows LGBT people that they can be themselves and make it in a mainstream industry”.

But Norm Kent, the editor and publisher of the South Florida Gay News, called the award “a joke.”

Kent claimed in an editorial that Lambert hasn’t done anything to deserve the recognition.

He said the 31-year-old “remained in the closet during his meteoric rise to stardom” while on “American Idol” and has not used his fame to fight for LGBT equality in any particular way. He also slammed GLAAD for promoting him.

Kent became furious after learning associate publisher Jason Parsley had produced an interview with Lambert, revealing the singer’s recent split from his boyfriend.

Even though the popularity of the story caused South Florida Gay News’ servers to crash, Kent claimed it “made my partner and me puke.”

However, Parsley hit back, writing: “Kent attempted to make the case that Lambert hasn’t done anything for the gay community in his short few years on the public stage. But what my publisher obviously failed to realise is just how much Adam Lambert has been doing for the gay community.”

He added: “He’s the first mainstream pop artist to come out at the beginning of their career”.