Singer Adam Lambert was honored by
Equality California (EQCA), the state's largest gay rights group, at
its annual Equality Awards fundraiser on Saturday at The Beverly
Hilton in Beverly Hills, California.
“Not only is Adam an incredible
talent and out-and-proud entertainer but he is [also] an outstanding
and highly visible advocate for our community whose courage is an
inspiration to young people to be bold and brave and to stand up
against hatred,” singer Sam Sparro said in presenting Lambert with
the group's Equality Idol Award.
“Over the past couple of years since
American Idol I've recognized my responsibility as a gay man
in the public eye and that's something that I'm really thankful for,”
Lambert said in accepting the award. “As a teenager growing up,
when I was struggling with my own identity, I didn't have have
anybody. I didn't have anybody to really look up to, except maybe
like Will & Grace, you know.”
“And to recognize the opportunity to
be somebody that was comfortable being a fucking weird fag. Hello,”
he said raising his hand. “And I own that phrase, I am, I'm weird,
I love it.”
“And to have somebody be like that in
the public eye and to be proud of who they are, I realized that this
was my chance to be that for other people. So, thank you guys very
much for recognizing me, I appreciate it, and I'm going to keep being
that weird fucking fag,” he added.
Before comedian Kathy Griffin presented
social networking site Facebook with the group's Equality Advocate
Award, she came down into the audience and coaxed Lambert, who was
seated next to his boyfriend Sauli Koskinen, into singing a duet of
Mad World with her. (The video is embedded in the right panel
of this page.)