One week before his new album hits stores, “American Idol” RUNNER-UP Clay Aiken tells People magazine that “people are going to believe what they want” concerning his sexuality and that he would really like to adopt one day.

From People:

On whether he’s gay: “What do you say (to that question)? … It’s like when I was 8. I remember something would get broken in the house, and Mom and Dad would call me in and say, ‘Did you do this?’ Well, it didn’t matter what I said. The only thing they would believe was yes. … People are going to believe what they want.”

On the future: “I want to be a father so badly. I want (kids) one day. Not now. … I would love to adopt. There’s an orphanage not too far from my house, and I’ve been up before with church. I always thought, ‘What happens to those kids who have the potential to go to college but just can’t afford it?’ I’ve been thinking a lot lately about finding a way to pay for one of those kids to go to college.”

Oh yeah, those quotes aren’t gay sounding at all. In fact, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say those quotes came from someone like Clint Eastwood or Ty Cobb. Or maybe even me after one of my drunken rows down on the docks.

After all, like Clay, I too was a clumsy child who was repeatedly approached by Mom & Dad about broken household items like the TV or vibrator. Lucky for me though, I had a little brother at the time to blame that shit on. I say “at the time” because eventually my parents kicked him out of the house for keeping my stash of gay porn under his bed.