Lady Gaga to Congress: End DADT Now

Lady Gaga is someone who knows how to throw her weight behind a cause. Love her or hate her, you have to admit that Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta figured out how to make a name for herself (literally) and use it to bolster a cause she believes in.

Gaga has put her fame behind Don't Ask Don't Tell (don't follow, don't pursue), and hasn't been shy about it in any sense of the word. She has been a powerhaus in showing how the policy has been applied unevenly and turned into gay profiling. She has used her admittedly bizarre persona to give credence to a cause that has affected over 14,000 people.

While I have a few thoughts on celebrities who speak for marginalized people instead of working alongside them to give them a boost (think: Kathy Griffin when it came to Dan Choi), I can't deny that Lady Gaga is doing a tremendous job of furthering the cause of LGBTQI servicemembers. If I had any concerns that she treated the folks in uniform as accessories to her somewhat wasteful skirt steak, I think she hit the target with her latest attempt at an insurgency plan for LGBTQI rights.

The Haus of Gaga posted a video featuring Lady Gaga speaking to The Senate (transcript) and asking her fellow U.S. Americans to urge their senators to vote to repeal DADT. Her support could help make this the second item to come true on my list of dreams for 2010, along with keeping Plan B in military pharmacies. I've written my Senators, and tonight I'll stay up to call them to give them my support, since I know that Senators Carl Levin and Bart Stupak (despite his other, less favorable political inclinations) are both in favor of this repeal. College students have followed her example recording themselves calling their senators.

Of course, Gaga's public face has made her a target for right-wing voices who want to keep the bigoted and damaging policy in place. It wouldn't be business as usual if they didn't come out to attack a supporter of LGBTQI rights. Gay Rights blogger Michael A. Jones writes about a Human Events columnist who imagines a military of touchy-feely same-sex orgies. As much fun as that sounds, I am never at a loss for amusement when it comes to the Right and their fear of LGBTQI folk in the military -- folk who are already there and who exist professionally -- or how they have no regard for the folks who serve our country. It is their contempt and hate that I fear if a repeal of DADT were to come to fruition, not that of servicemembers.

While Gaga's career is tied up in many facets of privilege, her activism is a force of good. She uses her privilege to give a platform to damn fine causes.

It isn't too late to call your senators and tell them to vote with Sen. Reid and Sen. Levin against John McCain's filibuster: (202) 224-3121.