Lady Gaga spoke at the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell Rally held today at Deering Oaks Park in Portland, Maine and pretty much killed it. (That’s a good thing.)
The summary, given in our earlier Daily Fix is:
Famous non-asshole Lady Gaga has been lobbying heavily in support of DADT’s repeal, and is taking her fight to Maine, where she spoke at a rally in Portland today calling DADT “wrong, unjust, and fundamentally against all that we stand for as Americans.” She was not wearing a refrigerator dress but was wearing really cute glasses.
I believe I tuned into the live stream of the rally (via Lady-Gaga.net) at around 4:45, anticipating Gaga. I’m glad I caught the tale-end of a speech given by a former soldier obviously discharged under the discriminatory policy. Basically the story goes: the army asked (and probed and violated his privacy), he didn’t tell – DISCHARGED. Yay America.
Look! The video is now available! Lucky you:
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After this, Gaga emerged wearing what I believe was an American flag tie and nerd (i.e. super sexy) thick-framed glasses. Basically I’m in nerd-love and she’s about to stand up for our rights. I could’ve just died right there. Except I didn’t because I would like to live to see DADT repealed and my equality given to me.
I wasn’t ready for this speech, but I totally was at the same time. My notes are sporadic, just warning you:
“Equality is the prime rib of America, but because I’m gay I don’t get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer.”
She compares the defenders of the DADT policy to the defense of the murderers of Matthew Shepard. And they’re serving life sentences now soooo… yeah.
Lady Gaga basically turns it around, flips it and reverses it: We should send home the straight soldier who’s performance is affected by the gay soldier:
“Our new law is called: ‘If you don’t like it, go home’ a law that discharges the soldier with the issue, the soldier with the REAL problem, the homophobic soldier that has a REAL effect on unit cohesion.”
She’s a great speaker. Like, really good, you guys.
She does that speechy-thing where she gets loud and the intensity crescendos and there’s a build-up and the audience erupts in roars, cheers and a synchronized “GO! HOME!” It’s powerful at that moment. And I felt it as I watch it from hundreds of miles away on a computer screen.
When listening to her speak about Don’t Ask Don’t Tell at this rally, I don’t get “chills” necessarily… I would say that my heart flutters, is what happens. It’s more emotional, like I’m going to cry or something. WHICH I WOULD NEVER DO. (Nothing makes me cry like gay rights. Seriously.)
At one point, she says her full name again. We all melt.
And as she goes on to talk about meat, I wondered to myself if she will bring it back around to the VMA meat dress. AND SHE DOES.
It all ends with chants of “GO! HOME!” in all it’s amazingness. How can you not love this woman?
UPDATE: Here are photos from the rally, taken by corresponder/photographer of awesomeness, Sarah G.
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Former Staff Sergeant David Hall, who was discharged from the US Air Force under DADT snaps a photo of the crowd at Deering Oaks Park on Monday, September 20. He was one of six discharged members of the military who spoke out against the policy at the rally organized by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Adelle Labrecque, of Farmington, and Jourdan Simon, of Portland make signs before the DADT Rally hosted by Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Lady Gaga at Portland, Maine's Deering Oaks on Monday, September 20.
Photo by Sarah G: sgatzke.googlepages.com
Guys, honestly. if she had just done the music and the performance art I would still have thought she was one of the better things to happen to the gays in recent times, and then THIS. all of this. this is what it looks like when you use your power for good. i am crushing so hard, and not even in a sex way just in a way where I love her heart. because she loves mine.
Lady Gaga is amazing. Now when anyone laughs at my love for her I can say it’s not just the awesome music. I was actually worried early on that her support for the gays was just gonna be superficial like many pop stars. She has come out so strong and done more than most people, even politicians.
I think this is awesome and it is also so weird to me when people think that musicians participating in political activism are doing something outside of their field of specialty. passion for what you believe in — the kind that makes an interesting artist — translates easily into the political realm.
She made the Canadian News tonight. They followed the clip of her speech with a list of all the NATO countries that ALLOW open service. Which was, well ~ everyone but the U.S. and Turkey at this point.
Hopefully tomorrow it will be a different story and Turkey can stand alone.
Turkey has this atrocious thing called the “pink report”: http://bit.ly/97Esv9
:(
I’ve been sitting here… and I seriously have no words.
gaga: the change we can believe in.
I love it when Alex writes. And when Lady Gaga speaks. And even more when Alex writes about Lady Gaga speaking. I’M SO READY FOR DADT TUESDAY, I COULD JUST DECIMATE SOME PRIME RIB.
She’s the only one that both liberal and conservative gays could get behind, being all things to everyone. This here proves that gays can rally behind someone, get in line, and even make news with it.
Lady Gaga is now the spokesperson for the Gay Rights Movement. We have needed one for a long time, but just couldn’t create consensus on one. Now we have consensus.
I’ve never seen organized blogswarms get this many gay bloggers to blog about the same topic at once. So for one to happen organically because Lady Gaga is involved says a lot about the gay community. We could only have been led by a non-partisan celebrity that wouldn’t come under too much scrutiny or be questioned by the gay community.
i’m so ready for this.
Lady Gaga is fabulous. Please take action today.
Call Senators this morning and DEMAND repeal of DADT AND PASSAGE OF THE DREAM ACT under the Defense Authorization ACT 2011! Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202.224.3121. “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” DR. MLK JR
An amazing speech, it sure rallied me. So pleased she tied in the meat dress too. All the British press have been banging on about what a cynical attention grabbing stunt the meaty dress was. Well ha.
God I love this woman.
Gay rights always make me cry…
I had no interest in Lady Gaga until I heard her speech at the VMAs… then I fell madly in love… she’s AMAZING.
p.s. That video on the Turkish military is horrific.
I am so happy that there is finally somebody on this earth who has enough balls to stand up for equality. Lady Gaga is the modern Martin Luther King Jr. Until this “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” thing is repealed, America should not have the motto of “The Land of the Free”. It should be “The Land of the Somewhat Free”. I am not a gay American myself, but it makes me sick to my stomach to think that in 2010, people are being discriminated against. It doesn’t make any sense to me that the armed forces wants you to sign up, but in the end you have to be “masculine” to sign up. There are many straight people in this country who won’t sign up because they are afraid. That means that all of the homosexual people who are signing up are already more “masculine” than the heterosexual people who aren’t signing up.
Uhm, we have and have had other gay rights activists…with bigger gonads even.
DO we really need to hate on soldiers, no matter who they are or who they like? NO ONE bring their sexuality upon another and then no one goes home and no one gets hurt. Get rid of prejudice soldiers, you get rid of a lot of the soldiers. Everybody has a prejudice about something. Dont show the prejudice and dont antagonize a response (if your gay) and there are no problems.
BTW, the spending issue is WAY MORE important this election season. Dont be distracted.
BTW, it costs the government money to kick out gay soldiers. $363.8 million in the first 10 years of DADT.
Again and again we can see that Lady Gaga is not only vere extravagant but very talented.
Again and again we can see that Lady Gaga is not only vere extravagant but very talented. Do you know that she became a creative director of Palaroid. I don’t like what she wears but it helps her in her career. I like her songs a lot. I downloaded some from http://www.mp3hounddog.com . She impressed me a lot with her Telephone.