LOS ANGELES, Calif. --

Since the beginning of his run on “American Idol,” Adam Lambert found himself fielding as many questions about his sexuality as about his music.

And now, in a new interview with Rolling Stone, Adam is putting all of the rumors and whispers to rest.

“I don’t think it should be a surprise for anyone to hear that I’m gay,” the glam rocker said. “I’m proud of my sexuality. I embrace it. It’s just another part of me.”

In the cover story of the new Rolling Stone, “Wild Idol: The Psychedelic Transformation and Sexual Liberation of Adam Lambert,” which hits newsstands this week, Adam said he doesn’t want his not-so-shocking revelation to define him as he begins his professional music career.

“I’m trying to be a singer, not a civil rights leader,” he added.

Although the singer is more than comfortable talking about his sexuality now at the age of 27, that wasn’t always the case for Adam growing up.

“I was so scared of my sexuality,” he admitted of his childhood. “I started to realize I wasn’t like every other boy, and I was just in my own head about it, tripping myself out.”

But those days are long gone, and Adam is now very comfortable in his own skin – and while the Rolling Stone interview marks the first time he has publicly commented on his own sexuality, it’s not something he’s attempted to hide either.

Photos of Adam kissing another man at the Burning Man festival quickly spread online during his “Idol” run and following the conclusion of the show, he was photographed out and about with boyfriend Drake LaBry.

And while his fans have embraced him, discrimination is still an ugly issue the singer has been forced to face. He was recently being driven around by an “American Idol” chauffeur who told Adam he had no problem with him, “because at least you’re not girly.”

“Man, it’s so ignorant,” Adam told Rolling Stone. “Why can’t some men have strong feminine sides? Does that make them less of a man? I don’t know why our society has such an emphasis on masculinity and femininity – it’s really gross. I don’t think you’re truly sexy until you don’t care about that.”

However, Adam said the “Idol” producers were very supportive during the show, and allowed him to make the call on how he wanted to handle the attention towards his sexuality.

“They were completely supportive of any decision I made,” he noted. “I was worried that [coming out] would be so sensationalized that it would overshadow what I was there to do, which was sing. I’m an entertainer, and who I am and what I do in my personal life is a separate thing – it shouldn’t matter.”

“Except it does,” he sighed, shaking his head. “It’s really confusing.”

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