Out singer Adam Lambert has
congratulated British singer Sam Smith for coming out as
non-binary.
“After a lifetime of being at war with my gender,
I've decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out,”
Smith, who is currently working on his third studio album, wrote on
social media last month, adding that they prefer the pronouns
“they/them.”
Smith came out as non-binary in April
but said at the time that they still preferred the pronouns “he/him.”
Speaking with NME, Lambert
congratulated Smith.
"The media loves something that
feels new and ten years ago – in America anyway – there wasn’t
a lot of mainstream music people identifying as gay, so it was a
novelty, and I feel there might be some parallels there," he
said.
"On a personal level, I’m really
happy for Sam that they’ve found their truth and they’re feeling
liberated by it.”
"At some point, you have to break
through the ceiling and discuss trans or non-binary issues and I’m
so proud of Sam," Lambert said. "They’re really doing a
bold thing."
Lambert also called for empathy for
no-binary people.
"If you stop for a minute and make
it not about you and put yourself in the shoes of the person that’s
being talked about and try to understand their experience – just
for a second – you’ll realize what’s being asked is just that
you be a decent human being," he said. "People get
defensive, saying ‘How dare you ask me to change the way I think!’,
and just a little empathy would help.”
Lambert, 37, is currently promoting his
fourth studio album, Velvet: Side A.
(Related: Adam
Lambert calls his coming out “an act of defiance”; Applauds
Taylor Swift's activism.)