urprise, surprise, said James Poniewozik in Time.com, American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert confirms that he’s gay in the upcoming issue of Rolling Stone. “Can we move on now?” Most people have speculated that he was gay for years now anyway, and Lambert “doesn't seem especially concerned with trying to present an ‘unthreatening’ gayness for America, nor some kind of exaggerated super-gayness.”

Whether Lambert likes it or not, said Ann Powers in the Los Angeles Times, his coming out will have a “powerful ripple effect,” since he’s doing so “in a charged political moment—right in the middle of the nationwide struggle over same-sex marriage.” By announcing to the world that he’s gay, Lambert is “making progress, not just for himself.”

Lambert's decision to come out is interesting, said Chuck Barney in the San Jose Mercury News. But the really important question is why he avoided “discussing the issue during the run of the show.” And it would be nice to know how he felt about “all the rampant speculation” his sexuality “fueled in the media.”