Is Adam Lambert homophobic?

In an open letter to Adam Lambert, the editor of the gay magazine Out, Aaron Hicklin, denounces Lambert's management team for insisting that Out's cover photo avoid depicting Lambert as "too gay." Hicklin says Lambert owes it to his gay fans to be an anti-shame role model, even if it might slow record sales. Lambert responded via Twitter that Hicklin should "chill" and stop "projecting your publication's agenda onto my career." Are the magazine's criticisms valid? (Watch Adam Lambert talk about his decision to come out after American Idol ended)

Yes — Lambert's being expedient: Like Ellen DeGeneres before him, says Nick Haramis in BlackBook, Adam Lambert has decided he has to "toe the line between being gay enough to not piss off gay fans, and straight enough to not alienate straight fans." If Lambert's claims that he embraces his gayness (even if it costs him fans) were true, he wouldn't have let another magazine, Details, depict him "kissing a woman."

"Yep, Adam Lambert may be too gay"

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What exactly is the desired degree of gayness? "Yes, the gays won't be happy until Lambert stops being photographed with naked women," says Brian Moylan in Gawker. But, unlike Idol runner-up Clay Aiken, Adam Lambert has never tried to hide who he is — if anything, Lambert made "himself look 'too gay' with all that glitter and eyeliner and flamboyance."

"Is Adam Lambert not gay enough for the gays?"

Lambert has to choose sides: Not that Aaron Hicklin said it was Lambert's handlers who had the jitters. not Lambert himself, says gossip blogger Perez Hilton. But the pop star still has to decide whether he's going to be a spokesman and role model for the gay community "or just another cog in the mainstream music machine" that made him a star.

"More on Glambert's de-gaying Out interview!"

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SEE THE WEEK's LATEST COVERAGE OF ADAM LAMBERT:

• Adam Lambert's risky CD cover

• Adam Lambert's Details photo shoot