Tuesday, May 22, 2012
POP ICON IN PORTLAND
By Rebekah Metzler rmetzler@mainetoday.com
MaineToday Media State House Writer
PORTLAND -- The world's biggest pop star came to Portland on Monday as part of a last-minute lobbying effort to encourage U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine to vote to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," a policy that calls on service members who are gay to remain closeted and prohibits recruiters from asking. It also calls for outed soldiers to be discharged.
Lady Gaga speaks to the crowd during Monday's rally in favor of eliminating the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy at Deering Oaks park in Portland. We believe she is on the right side of the issue.
Tim Greeway/Staff Photographer
Lady Gaga, 24, was joined by three such ex-soldiers on stage, as she gave a passionate and focused 15-minute speech condemning the policy, which is scheduled for a U.S. Senate vote as part of the defense authorization bill today.
"There are amazing heroes here today, whose stories are more powerful than any story I could tell, any fight I've ever fought and any song that I could sell," she said. "I'm here because they inspire me. I'm here because I believe in them. I am here because 'don't ask, don't tell' is wrong. It's unjust and fundamentally it is against all that we stand for as Americans."
About 2,500 cheering Mainers gathered in Deering Oaks Park for the last-minute, afternoon rally with the Grammy Award-winning artist, know for hit songs such as "Bad Romance" and "Just Dance." The event was organized by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network.
"My name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. I am an American citizen," she said. "To the Senate, to Americans, to Sen. Olympia Snowe, Sen. Susan Collins, both from Maine, and Sen. Scott Brown of Massachusetts -- equality is the prime rib of America. Equality is the prime rib of what we stand for as a nation and I don't get to enjoy the greatest cut of meat that my country has to offer."
Collins was the only Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee to vote in favor of including the repeal of 'don't ask, don't tell' in the defense budget authorization earlier this year.
The U.S. House has already passed a similar measure, with support from Maine's two representatives. Today's vote is expected to require 60 votes to end debate because of an expected filibuster from U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona.
"I thought this was an all-you-can-eat buffet, this equality stuff, I thought equality meant everyone," Lady Gaga said. "But apparently for certain value meals, for certain civil rights, I have to pay extra because I am gay."
Lady Gaga, who in the past has said she is bisexual, said she was concerned that McCain and other Republican senators used homophobia as a defense of keeping the policy. "Don't ask, don't tell" has resulted in about 14,000 members of the American soldiers getting discharged from service since it was first implemented in 1993 under then-President Bill Clinton.
"(They say) openly gay soldiers affect unit cohesion, like it's okay to discriminate or discharge soldiers because we are homophobic -- 'We are uncomfortable and we do not agree with homosexuality and I can't focus on the field of duty while I am fighting,'" she said. "Doesn't it seem that 'don't ask, don't tell' is backwards?"
"The straight soldier who has prejudice in his heart in the space -- where the military asks him to hold our core American values, he instead holds and harbors hate -- and he gets to stay and fight for our country. He gets to honor it. But we gay soldiers, who harbor no hatred, no prejudice, no phobia, we're sent home," Lady Gaga said.
The pop star, who eschewed her usual outrageous style in favor of a simple black suit and glasses, proposed a new policy to replace "don't ask, don't tell" -- one that would flip the equation.
The pop star, who eschewed her usual outrageous style in favor of a simple black suit and glasses, proposed a new policy to replace "don't ask, don't tell" -- one that would flip the equation.
"Our new law is called, 'if you don't like it, go home,'" she said. "If you are not committing to perform with excellence as a United States soldier because you don't believe in full equality, go home. If you are not honorable enough to fight without prejudice, go home. If you are not capable of keeping your oath to the armed forces, to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to do the same, unless there's a gay soldier in my unit, then go home."
It is unclear yet what, if any, impact the rally had on Snowe and Collins.
"Let me be clear, the 'don't ask, don't tell' law should be changed," said Collins in a statement. But she criticized Reid's handling of the bill.
"Now is not the time to play politics, and I again call on the Majority Leader to work with Republican leaders to negotiate an agreement so that the Senate can debate the defense bill this week," she said.
Snowe said the 17-year-old policy is 'overdue' for review, but added that a vote on the policy should wait until the defense department's comprehensive review, ordered in March, is complete.
"We should all have the opportunity to review that report which is to be completed on December 1, as we reevaluate this policy and the implementation of any new changes," she said in a statement.
Recent national polling shows that more than 80 percent of voters support repealing "don't ask, don't tell."
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