Rocker Adam Lambert has dedicated a
cover of Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come to the gay rights
movement.
During the final performance of his
global Glam Nation tour in Los Angeles, the 28-year-old openly gay –
and increasingly political – singer took a moment to explain his
motivations behind including the song.
“The thing about the song is, it's
amazing that it was originally intended for civil rights, and ladies
and gentlemen, if you haven't noticed, the gay and lesbian community
is in a civil-rights movement right now,” Lambert told the ecstatic
crowd.
“And so this song has taken on a lot
of personal meanings for me. Both as a community and also
personally. Being told years ago, 'You're not gonna fucking make it
looking like that.'”
“Well, ladies and gentlemen, I don't
mean to sound cocky, 'cause I'm not – I'm just very proud and I
have my friends to thank for their support – but we just did a
world tour and I got a Grammy nomination.”
“The only reason I bring that up is,
if anybody tells you 'No,' tell them, 'Fuck you,'” he added to
thunderous applause. (The video is embedded in the right panel of
this page.)
Lambert then busted into a
heart-wrenching rendition of the song.
Earlier in the week, Lambert
tweeted support for gay rights group FCKH8's anti-gay bullying
efforts and his
bass guitarist, Tommy Joe Ratliff, joined the NOH8 Campaign against
California's gay marriage ban.