GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, and gay-friendly publication The Advocate have spoken out against an editorial decision made during Adam Lambert’s AM performance on CBS’ breakfast program The Early Show Wednesday.

In a move that seems to support the notion of that double standard the gay singer keeps talking about, the network blurred a pair of racy moments from performance footage, included a simulated sexual act and a kiss with his straight keyboard player. On the other hand, the network played Madonna and Britney Spears’ famous same-sex smooch from the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards without the blur.

“‘The Early Show’s’ decision this morning to blur Adam Lambert’s kiss from the American Music Awards reinforces an unfortunate double standard that is applied to openly gay performers,” Jarrett Barrios, GLAAD’s president, said in the statement Wednesday “I would have hoped CBS would provide the same treatment for images of gay and lesbian people and not create an unfair double standard that treats our community differently.”

Barrios went on to cite other networks’ coverage of the event as being fairer.

“CBS regularly shows kisses throughout every daypart. The kiss was not blurred on ABC nor in news coverage on other networks. While we continue to applaud ‘The Early Show’ for featuring Adam Lambert today, we have reached out to the show’s producers to express our concerns about their decision and offer ways they can make their coverage of gay and transgender people more fair.”

The Advocate is also fuming over the alleged “double standard.”

“I think there’s obviously a double standard when it comes to gay male entertainers,” Jeremy Kinser, the magazine’s Arts and Entertainment Editor, told Extra today. “It’s ridiculous they can show two women but can’t show two men. I think it makes them look kind of silly. That’s what’s so ironic: they decided to put him on after ‘Good Morning America’ canceled him, and they seem really hypocritical to blur the moment that has everybody talking.”

In a statement released late Wednesday, CBS producers explained their reasons for censoring Lambert:
“We gave this some real thought. The Madonna image is very familiar and has appeared countless times including many times on morning television. The Adam Lambert image is a subject of great current controversy, has not been nearly as widely disseminated, and for all we know, may still lead to legal consequences.”