Rocker Adam Lambert says he wants gay
teens to ignore the hate and focus on the love.
Lambert addressed the recent spate of
gay teens bullied to death in the U.S. at a press conference before
performing in Malaysia, which was protested by members of the Pan
Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), Malaysia's Islamic opposition party
because the theatrical performer “promotes gay culture.” Holding
signs that read “Not Our Culture” protesters held a reportedly
peaceful demonstration outside the venue.
Earlier, the PAS had demanded the
cancellation of the concert, but Lambert agreed to edit out a
controversial kiss between himself and his male keyboardist, Tommy
Joe Ratliff.
The openly gay Lambert talked about the
protest and the role celebrities play in advancing gay rights at a
press conference held before the concert.
“My message to the youth of the U.S.
and to the world is that you should be proud of who you are,” he
answered a reporter asking about the recent gay teen suicides. “And
I know that it's hard.” (The video is embedded in the right panel
of this page.)
“I'm still bullied, in a sense, by
certain groups, by certain journalists in a way. And the general
public. If you go on the Internet, for example, and you go down into
the comments section. There's a lot of hate. But you know what? If
I focused on the hate and let it affect me, I'd be letting the hate
win. I refuse to do that. I'm going to focus on the positive and
focus on the love, and ignore all the hate.”