American Idol's Big Gay closet. with its sappy songs, flamboyant contestants, and metrosexual host, American Idol is the campiest thing on TV. But could an openly gay singer win?

Divas like Fantasia, Kimberley Locke, and Jennifer Hudson attract legions of gay fans. Judge Simon Cowell and host Ryan Seacrest seem to be flirting as they delight in challenging each other's heterosexuality. And each season at least a few finalists--most notably Clay Aiken--seem to set off everybody's gaydar. American Idol is not only the most popular show on network television--averaging over 33 million viewers per episode--it is also clearly one of the gayest. But there seems to be some kind of unwritten rule that contestants should not be out while competing for the title. Season 1 contestant R.J. Helton, who finished fifth, came out publicly last October but struggled with being in the closet while he was on the show.

"I did tell some of the assistant producers because I felt like it was eating me alive," Helton says. "But I was advised to just keep it to myself. The reason they gave me was that it wouldn't be a good idea for my career. I wasn't prepared to be out then anyway--I wasn't comfortable with myself at that point."

Fox spokesman Joe Earley says he was not aware of Helton confiding in anyone on the show about his sexuality, and if someone did indeed encourage Helton to remain closeted, that person was speaking on their own behalf and not for the show. "Since season 1, when it became clear that people's personal lives were going to become public, the gay contestants have usually declared early in the [background check] process how comfortable they were with their own sexuality," says Earley, who is out.

"I've been intimate in this process," adds Earley, "and there is no fear coming from producers or the network about a contestant's sexuality as it relates to being gay."

Helton's fellow season i finalist Jim Verraros got a lot of attention for coming out shortly after competing on the show (he finished ninth) and appearing on the American Idols Live concert tour. "I was more concerned about how America would perceive me than the producers were," Verraros admits. "Even on tour I definitely toned it down, making sure my voice dropped an octave. Now I don't give a fuck. But at the time I thought, You have to appeal to everybody and be as mainstream as possible." While Verraros, now 24, says he never heard a word from the producers or staff about how to handle his sexuality, he did find out after his run ended that The Advocate had contacted the network for an interview while he was still competing. At the time, he says, "I never heard about it."

Earley disputes this and insists that Verraros was made aware of the interview request. Verraros has had some success as an out gay singer and actor (Eating Out) and says he hears from "a lot of the contestants from past seasons who are gay who have e-mailed me." He was also the first fellow contestant Helton felt he could confide in.

"I didn't tell any of the contestants, although I'm sure a few knew just by living with me," Helton says. "Jim was the first person that I talked to about it all with. We came back for the finale show and were about to go on tour. We were in the front lobby of the hotel, and I said, 'We have to talk.'"

By the time Helton, now 25, did an interview on Sirius OutQ Radio last October in support of American Idol Rewind, a syndicated rerun of the show's first season, he was far more comfortable with himself and decided to come out publicly.

Some believe the show tries to project an image of wholesomeness in order to preserve its monster ratings and appeal to virtually every demographic and region in the country. Many wonder if preservation of that image was the reason behind the mysterious departure of season 4 finalist Mario Vazquez, who had set off some viewers' gaydar during his journey to the top 12. Vazquez was not voted off the show but made the unprecedented decision to quit after making the finals, citing "family reasons."

Vazquez has never discussed his sexuality but is now at the center of one of the bigger scandals in the show's history. Magdaleno Olmos, a former assistant production accountant for Fremantle Media, which produces the show, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the show in Los Angeles superior court in March accusing Vazquez of sexually harassing him.

Olmos claims in the lawsuit that "Vazquez stared lasciviously, smiled lasciviously ... and on one occasion followed him into a bathroom ... knocked on the door of the plaintiffs stall and made eye contact through the space in the stall door." The suit goes on to allege that Vazquez then "started to rub his genitals over his pants. Attempting to leave the bathroom, Olmos opened the door of the stall and saw Vazquez standing in front of him with his pants down." Olmos says Vazquez pushed him "further into the stall and continued masturbating with one hand and trying to pull down Olmos' pants with another hand" and that Vazquez touched his "chest and stomach underneath his shirt" and his genitals. Vazquez then allegedly "attempted to unzip" Olmos's pants and asked "if he wanted oral sex."

Olmos claims he was let go from the show a few months later for reporting the alleged incident to a superior. He is suing Vazquez, American Idol Productions, Fremantle Media, Fox Broadcasting Co., and Fox Entertainment Group. Olmos's attorney, Matt Matern, has stated publicly that he does not believe Vazquez's departure from American Idol was voluntary and has indicated that the lawsuit was filed nearly two years after his client's firing because settlement talks with the show, Fremantle, and Fox broke down. If Matern is correct in his theory that Vazquez was forced off the show, it's curious that the singer continues to be managed by 19 Entertainment, the United Kingdom--based company of Idol creator and executive producer Simon Fuller. The company manages or has managed all previous Idol champs, from season 1's Kelly Clarkson through season 5's Taylor Hicks, and about a dozen other finalists, including Aiken. Vazquez's representatives did not respond to efforts to reach them for this article and had not made any public statements about the lawsuit as of press time. Fox officials declined to comment, stating it is company policy not to speak about pending litigation.

Sexual harassment scandal aside, Hollywood Reporter columnist Ray Richmond thinks the show probably doesn't need to play it particularly safe when it comes to gay contestants. "I have to believe the producers are not putting forth any mandate to hide your gayness," Richmond says. "It actually would be a nice subplot: the gay singer versus the straight singer."

But is Middle America ready for sappy video montages to a love of the same gender?

Former 'N Sync member Lance Bass thinks so. Bass, who came out of the closet amid much fanfare last summer, says he certainly understands the hesitancy on the part of young gay singers trying to make it, but urges them to "come clean."

"The world has completely changed since I was in the band," Bass says. "There are obviously contestants on the show right now who are gay. But it's a scary thing because when you are a new artist, you don't know if it will hurt you."

Out singer Jacob Miller, who performs in the band Nemesis with twin gay brother Joshua, coproduced the album American Idol Season 4: The Showstoppers. Without naming names, he confirms that several of the top 24 contestants that season were gay.

"It was always cool. No one acted strangely about it," he says. "I don't think they are discouraged from being out. I think kids, when they start, are afraid it could sabotage things."

Miller's journey to recording an album and coming out to his family and the rest of the world was chronicled in the reality series Jacob & Joshua: Nemesis Rising on the Logo cable channel last year.

Helton wonders if now, in season 6, some of the male finalists are making less of an effort to butch it up, so to speak:

"It's funny watching this season. There are more queens on that show than I have ever seen before. I don't think people are trying to hide their femininity.

But I definitely think there is an unspoken thing to try and keep it under wraps for ratings." Not making it into the top 24 this season was Tom Lowe, a gay 28-year-old whose pre-Ido resume includes a stint in the U.K. boy band North and South. Lowe was actually at the center of several controversies; among other things, some observers thought he was already too successful and well-connected to compete fairly on the show. He advanced to the top 40 during the audition process but was cut when the group was narrowed down further. Many were surprised, since Lowe's version of Luther Vandross's "Always and Forever" had really wowed the judges.

"I still don't know the reason why I didn't make the top 24," Lowe says. "I was absolutely gutted. It took me weeks to get over it. It was so deflating. I felt I was easily good enough to be in the top 12 guys."

Once he was in the top 40, it became public knowledge that Lowe had posed nude (with his private parts strategically covered) for Attitude, a U.K. gay magazine, and while a student at Harvard University, appeared to out himself in a 2005 interview with The Harvard Crimson: "Harvard allows me to dress however I want, wear my hair however I want, sleep with whomever I want."

But Lowe says he was prepared to play down his sexuality if he had made it onto the show. "I didn't really want to make that an issue," he says. "I didn't want to be known as the gay contestant. I was discreet and would have happily carried on in the competition and had my sexuality not be an issue. You need to appeal to a broad market, but unfortunately, in America that doesn't include being gay."

Idol's gay issue does seem to be largely an American one. In the United Kingdom, Pop Idol winner Will Young came out in 2002 just after the release of his debut single, which had sold more than a million copies in its first week. The announcement caused barely a ripple.

The sixth season of American Idol is unfolding as some well-known international male singers have either come out or been outed. Mexican singer and soap star Christian Chavez, a member of the band RBD, publicly acknowledged in early March that he's gay after photos surfaced of him exchanging vows and rings with another man in Canada in 2005. Just a few days later, Australian Idol runner-up Anthony Callea was accidentally outed by a radio talk-show host, but the singer came out this year and now has the highest-selling single in Australian history.

"It seems to be a thing with American TV," observes Erasure's Andy Bell, a Brit who has enjoyed enormous success for years as an out musician. "Our very first Pop Idol [winner] came out. I think it's about time someone did [come out]. I'd love to see it happen. The more the merrier."

But Damon Romine, entertainment media director for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, believes Idol contestants are no different from other aspiring stars who don't want to give themselves any kind of perceived disadvantage. "By and large, many gay and lesbian performers have felt some pressure--either internal or external--to keep their private lives private as they strive to achieve some level of stardom," he says. "But as we've seen, when celebrities do come out, their lives ultimately change for the better, as they are able to live openly and honestly."

Many point to Elton John and Scissor Sisters as examples of international success, while others can't help but bring up season 2 runner-up Aiken, who has been widely rumored to be gay. But Alken, in various interviews where the subject has been broached, has chosen to neither confirm nor deny that he is gay. He also has refused to respond to aggressive bloggers and others who have tried to force his hand.

"It really makes me sad that he feels that he can't be himself," Helton says of Aiken. "Maybe he's just not comfortable with his own skin yet. I think he's got so much clout that he could do a lot for other gay artists."

Adds Verraros: "Clays got a lot more invested in him than I do--millions of dollars on RCA. We don't know who in his camp might be saying, We will drop you so fast your head will spin.' He has more to lose. I think it's sad, because I don't know how much more obvious you can get."

Neither Aiken nor his representatives had any comment for this story. Last season GLAAD met with the show's producers because they were appalled by homophobic remarks made by judges Cowell and Randy Jackson. During one of the early tryout shows when auditions are taking place around the country, Cowell told one effeminate wannabe to "shave off your beard and wear a dress." The incident was edited with the song "The Crying Game" in the background. Jackson had asked another audition hopeful, "Are you a girl?" Neither contestant made it past the tryouts.

While GLAAD has had little issue with Idol so far this season, there does remain the strange banter between Seacrest and Cowell, who lace many of their exchanges with thinly veiled suggestions that the other is gay. Their gay-baiting reached an unprecedented level during the show's March 13 segment, which happened to feature gay icon Diana Ross as guest mentor. Seacrest, who has been the subject of gay rumors for years, asked contestant Melinda Doolittle the hardest part about being in the top 12. She said it was "high heels and dresses."

Seacrest: "Simon, any advice on high heels?"

Cowell: "You should know, Ryan."

Seacrest: "Stay out of my closet."

Cowell: "Come out."

Another exchange was shown on the March 18 edition of 60 Minutes during a profile of Cowell by correspondent Anderson Cooper.

Seacrest: "Don't call me sweetheart.... We don't have that kind of relationship. I don't want that kind of relationship."

Cowell: "I don't want that kind of relationship."

Seacrest: "Exactly. We'll just work together--that's fine with me."

The Seacrest-Cowell flirtations aside, the question remains whether American Idol's gay fans, thought to be active voters on the show, are numerous enough to counter viewers who might be antigay and unlikely to support an openly gay contestant, even an outstanding one.

Both Verraros and Helton have enormous confidence in the gay vote. "Gay bars across the world are watching Idol Tuesday and Wednesday nights," Helton says. "It's not so far-fetched that we could have a gay American Idol."

Verraros attributes it to the type of fans that gays typically are. "I think the gays are very aware of talent, and you've got to get our vote," he says. "Well carry you; well be loyal to you. As soon as you get the gays' support, we'll rally around you."

The gay fan base certainly made its power known during season 5, when Mandisa was voted off following comments she made to Advocate.com about never wanting to appear at a gay pride festival.

In contrast, Kimberley Locke, the third-place finisher from season 2, performs at plenty of LGBT events and has a very loyal gay following, as does Verraros. "My fan base is mostly gay, and I do well in the metropolitan cities," says Verraros, who expects to release his second CD this summer. "But it's hard for me to say gay is not an issue. None of the labels have taken a chance on an openly gay artist and made them break. I think an artist will have to do it on their own, and then the labels will be less homophobic. I would hope that we we've reached a better place of understanding."

Hernandez is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Daily News, where he authors the blog Out in Hollywood.

GAY SEX SCANDAL ROCKS IDOL

Mario Vazquez was a favored finalist on Idol's fourth season when he abruptly dropped out of the competition. Now it turns out his mysterious departure may be tied to ex-Idol staffer Magdaleno Olmos, who's suing Vazquez for allegedly making a pass at him in a restroom. In the lawsuit Olmos claims he "opened the door to the stall and saw Vazquez standing in front of him with his pants down"--and things went downhill from there. Olmos says his bosses fired him for complaining.

JUDGING THE JUDGES ... AND HOST

The queer-baiting exchanges between host Ryan Seacrest and judge Simon Cowell have fueled public speculation that both men may be gay--or at least terminally metrosexual, And Cowell, along with fellow judge Randy Jackson, has been criticized by LGBT groups for making fun of swishy contestants. Eowell told one effeminate wannabe to "shave off your beard and wear a dress."

TOO GAY FOR AMERICAN IDOL?

After queer contestant Tom Lowe advanced to Hollywood this season, sexy photos of him in a gay magazine circulated. He was soon sent packing by judges. "I still don't know the reason why I didn't make top 24," he says.

OUT AFTER IDOL

R.J. Heloton (far left) and Jim Verraros both came out after their success on Idol's first season. During the show, Helton says producers advised him to say in the closet. Verraros says he wasn't pressured.

STILL IN THE IDOL CLOSET?

Bloggers have buzzed for years about Clay Aiken's (right) sexuality, but now their attention is turning to this season's 17-year-old Sanjaya Malakar (below).

INTERNATIONAL GAY IDOLS

Australian Idol runner-up Anthony Callea (top) was outed by a radio DJ, leading the singer to publicly come out this year. And when Will Young--the first winner of the when Will Young--the first winner of the U.K.'s Pop Idol--said he was gay, Britons didn't bat an eye.