I don't think it really is his choice. You could say it WAS his choice, but even that is only partially true. He tried to not talk about it during idol, because he assumed (rightfully) that it would become all about the gay rather than the singing and he did not want that. It became very much about the gay anyways, even though he did not push that topic at all. I remember him meeting with Perez privately, because Perez was about to out him on his blog, which used to feed all the gossip press of the time, and Adam at least wanted to control the story to some extent. He was able to hinder that immediate revelation during the show, but the speculation in the main stream media continued. There was never a realistic chance for Adam to be closeted. He had lived openly before idol, so that genie was out of the bottle.
I think he tried to control the official story-line with the RS cover and the ABC interview, to at least set a positive tone, one that does not sensationalize too much, but I don't think he really could change how media did its headlines, and what the public tended to read about an artist.
Ultimately, I don't think that controlling the message was really successful on a larger public scale, and then when the OUT article happened, and he got clobbered by those guys for supposedly playing it too straight, or whatever they were trying to put onto Adam, Adam reacted with a big fat FU and threw the AMA performance at America, and we know how that went.
I think, if anything, America did not allow Adam to make the gay part just one adjective in the list that would be used to describe him, rather it became THE adjective in use and on people's minds, and in many ways that sucks. People either care or they don't. Adam will appeal to those that don't care, and of course those that care but in a positive way. I don't think he will change the rest.
Having said that. Where one door closes, the lord opens a window, or so the saying goes. I think that Adam also got some chances in the last few years, that while certainly deserved, due to his talent, also were very fortunate in that they came about. The fact that Adam has this two-legged career he can stand on, where his solo-career has been augmented by the Queen gig, makes for a unique career for an artist who finds himself in unique circumstances. There is no direct link between the two, as Queen's decision to choose him as a front man has everything to do with his talent and nothing with his orientation, but the door was open at the right time, just when his situation with RCA was at a critical stage. 'Fortune rewards the brave', as Paula said, and brave Adam had been. When doors were undeservedly closed in front of him, Fortuna did open a different door for him. In the end result, he is having a career as large as he is deserving. In front of world wide audiences, and with world wide recognition, and with an opportunity to do his own creative thing too.
And we don't know yet what it will lead to down the road. There are still many chapters to write, because for now, I have to say, that those artists that remain closeted or at least not talk about it, seem to be traveling on a much easier road, as the message right above about Harry Styles proves. Or look at Bruno Mars or many others that maybe are speculated about, but at least have not come out officially. They are all mainstream.
I don't think Adam would have been happy to go down that path, to constantly have to hide your private world. He embraced his own path in many ways, proudly so. And that part was a choice. But the public discussion, on what price this bigoted world is making people pay, is only just beginning. Most people have not even sorted through that yet, even among media savvy people, educated people, journalists, etc. you can find very little knowledge of how these things are really playing out in today's world of music or acting.