Still Unusual

Cyndi Lauper has made a career out of flaunting her idiosyncrasies like fine china, her eccentricities as prominent as her four-octave, mountain-range of a voice.

There's a reason Lauper titled her solo debut "She's So Unusual," and it went beyond the geyser of orange hair or the relentlessly bright, retina-watering wardrobe that were her early trademarks: The chatty New Yorker has a genuine affinity for the outsider, for those who don't fit in -- and don't waste much time trying to, either.

"One of my friends was teasing me, calling me 'the queen of the misfits,' " Lauper recalls, "but I am, I'm a little odd. Everyone is a little odd. Thank God I can be an artist, because imagine if I had to try and fit into a more rigid situation. I don't know if my talent extends to that," she chuckles. "I ain't got that kind of talent."

Maybe not, but Lauper long has been skilled at cultivating an air of inclusiveness about herself, with an eclectic look and a lack of self-consciousness that have endeared her to those who've ever felt a little uncomfortable in their own skin from time to time -- i.e., pretty much everyone.

Because of this, Lauper has had a strong following in the gay/lesbian/transgender communities, particularly with her hit "True Colors," a stirring ballad that enjoined listeners to celebrate their differences.

The extent to which "True Colors" has resonated within those communities was re-emphasized to Lauper during a recent pregnancy, when she was homebound and catching up on fan mail.

"I was reading e-mails and not one, not five, not 10, but almost every one spoke of the same thing: about coming out at a certain age, about losing their jobs, their friends and being cut off from their family," Lauper remembers. "And then they said they heard 'True Colors,' and it helped them get through.

"I was so taken by that," she continues. "I thought to myself, 'You know, it shouldn't be like that, that you're discriminated against and made to feel like that because of who you are.' Nobody chooses to be different. You either are or you're not. Why would you choose a life where you're going to be discriminated against?"

Spurred on by this kind of feedback, Lauper helped cultivate the first annual "True Colors Tour," a diverse multiartist bill that also features Erasure, Debbie Harry, the Gossip, the Dresden Dolls and the Misshapes.

The tour, which kicks off in Las Vegas tonight, is hosted by comedian Margaret Cho, and proceeds from the show will go to benefit such organizations as The Matthew Shepard Foundation, PFLAG and the Human Rights Campaign, which actively push for equal rights for all sexual orientations.

"They're in the process of changing the hate crime law, which does not extend to people with different sexual orientations, which is kind of shocking," Lauper says of the Human Rights Campaign. "In 33 states, you can be fired from a job if you're gay/lesbian/transgender or bi-sexual. Also, there are over 1,000 rights that are afforded heterosexual couples that are not afforded to same-sex couples, like if your partner is in the hospital, you've got kids, and you want to go see your partner, they don't see you as family.

"It's little things that you don't think of where people need their rights," Lauper adds. "Nobody is asking for anything extra. They're asking for the same, that's all. A fair shake, the same reason my grandparents came to this country."

As with much of Lauper's catalog, the tour isn't about any overt politicking or sloganeering.

It's not about belaboring a cause so much as attempting to create a welcoming environment for everyone -- no matter what one's sexual preferences may be.

None of that should really matter anyway -- and at least for one night, Lauper hopes that it won't.

"The one thing is that we are all family. Every gay/lesbian/transgender person is part of a family, and a lot of them had heterosexual parents," Lauper says. "So I thought, 'Let's do a tour that brings everyone together.' I want to celebrate. I want to sing really loud and sing really soft. I want to laugh and cry. And I want to do it all together."