UPDATED: The full text of Lady Gaga's remarks can be found here.
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Lady Gaga's address to the DADT repeal rally in Portland, Maine, this afternoon pulled out the stops and demonstrated that she has a far better grasp of true equality than does our faux "fierce advocate" in the White House and senile has beens such as John McCain. My favorite part of her speech was when she proposed a new discharge policy. Here's highlights from the Advocate's account of it:
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She proposed making a new law that expels soldiers who are homophobic and called it, “If you don’t like it, go home.” "Doesn't it seem to you that we should send home the prejudice — the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier?" Lady Gaga said to shrill screams from her admirers. In her view, Gaga said the U.S. Constitution guaranteed equality for everyone.
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Gaga also raised the legitimate issue of what does this counrty stand for and who are our troops dying for:
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“If the president and the Senate are not going to repeal this 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy, maybe they should be more clear about who our military is fighting for,” she said. “Should soldiers and the government be able to pick and choose what are we fighting for in the constitution? I wasn't aware of this ambiguity in the Constitution, I thought the constitution was ultimate, I thought equality was non-negotiable.” She said gay soldiers “should have the same rights, the same piece of meat” that straight soldiers enjoy.
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Regardless of whether or not Gaga's advocacy for DADT repeal melts the cold, cynical hearts of Senators Snow and Collins, long term she is making sure that younger voters understand the discrimination that Obama and Congress are allowing. I suspect that through this, she is hastening the ultimate loss of the culture wars by our Christianist enemies. Here are two videos that capture Gaga's remarks today:
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PART 1
PART 2
She proposed making a new law that expels soldiers who are homophobic and called it, “If you don’t like it, go home.” "Doesn't it seem to you that we should send home the prejudice — the straight soldier who hates the gay soldier?" Lady Gaga said to shrill screams from her admirers. In her view, Gaga said the U.S. Constitution guaranteed equality for everyone.
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Gaga also raised the legitimate issue of what does this counrty stand for and who are our troops dying for:
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“If the president and the Senate are not going to repeal this 'don’t ask, don’t tell' policy, maybe they should be more clear about who our military is fighting for,” she said. “Should soldiers and the government be able to pick and choose what are we fighting for in the constitution? I wasn't aware of this ambiguity in the Constitution, I thought the constitution was ultimate, I thought equality was non-negotiable.” She said gay soldiers “should have the same rights, the same piece of meat” that straight soldiers enjoy.
*
Regardless of whether or not Gaga's advocacy for DADT repeal melts the cold, cynical hearts of Senators Snow and Collins, long term she is making sure that younger voters understand the discrimination that Obama and Congress are allowing. I suspect that through this, she is hastening the ultimate loss of the culture wars by our Christianist enemies. Here are two videos that capture Gaga's remarks today:
*
PART 1
PART 2
Like countless others, I will be holding my breath tomorrow afternoon. I sincerely hope that equality under the law prevails. If not, we must continue to strive to hold those who support and/or enable hate and prejudice responsible. And that includes Barack Obama.
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