ROB HALFORD Comes Face To Face With ADAM LAMBERT At 'Gay & Lesbian' Awards

JUDAS PRIEST frontman Rob Halford made a "special appearance" earlier tonight (Saturday, April 17) at the Los Angeles presentation of the 21st annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Media Awards at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza. Also attending the event was "American Idol" finalist Adam Lambert, who acted as one of evening's performers and nominees for the "Outstanding Music Artist" award.

Check out photos from Wire Image.

The GLAAD Media Awards recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and the issues that affect their lives.

Hosts for the Los Angeles GLAAD Media Awards (which also took place in New York on March 13 and is scheduled to be held in San Francisco on June 5) were actress Candis Cayne and actor Wilson Cruz ("He's Just Not That Into You"),with Tom Ford and Benjamin Bratt among the other guests and presenters.

The list of 116 film, television and music nominees in 24 English-language categories and 36 Spanish-language nominees in eight categories can be viewed at glaad.org/mediaawards.

In an August 2008 interview with The Dallas Morning News, Halford — who revealed he was homosexual during a 1998 appearance on MTV — explained why he believes that he's the only man capable of fronting JUDAS PRIEST.

"To be brutally honest, 'Jugulator' and 'Demolition' [the two PRIEST albums made with Tim 'Ripper' Owens as frontman] were affected by my not being in the band, much like when Bruce Dickinson went away from IRON MAIDEN, the way VAN HALEN [was] affected when David Lee Roth left," Rob was quoted as saying. "But I don't think a straight man can do my job in JUDAS PRIEST. I've never said that before. I'm sorry, but they can't."

In a subsequent interview, Halford attempted to clarify his remarks, stating, "I was talking about the performance in terms of what a frontman can do . . . I just think there's different interpretations of what you do, and that was just like a broad-based comment that can be taken however it wishes to be taken."

He added, "When you're doing an interview and you have, like, hundreds or thousands of words and, like, three or four words are taken out of context...

"I think [my quote in The Dallas Morning News] was taken out of context."

When asked in a December 2009 interview with the Dallas Voice if he has a particularly gay audience, Halford said, "I have my gay metalhead fans all over the world. Sometimes they are so obvious from stage but it's still a wonderful surprise."

Regarding how it has been since he came out more than 10 years ago, Halford said, "It gives me a lot of comfort and it was a weight off my shoulders. There is a lot of phobia in metal music, but me coming out chips away at that wall, bit by bit. It just crossed my mind that I had no negative feedback. Fans were cool, and that speaks volumes for the better world we're in. We have come forward by leaps and bounds."

Check out photos from Wire Image.