First she tweeted to the Senate Majority Leader. Then she released a video addressed to that entire august body. Now, Lady Gaga is holding campaign-style rallies to help end "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
The iconoclastic pop star appeared in Portland, Maine, on September 20 at a rally held by the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network in an effort to pressure the state's two Republican senators to vote to allow for the controversial policy to be repealed, reports the Huffington Post.
In front of a crowd of 2,000 assembled at Deering Oaks Park and flanked by members of the armed forces who have been discharged under the 1993 policy, Gaga fulminated against the law and called it an injustice. She even went as far as to say that a new policy should be created that targets straight soldiers who are "uncomfortable" serving with gay soldiers.
"Our new law is called 'If you don't like it, go home!" she said.
Perhaps given the seriousness of the setting and the event, Gaga eschewed her typically outrageous attire and appeared onstage in a black blazer, tie, black-rimmed glasses and a blonde wig.
The House has already approved the defense authorization bill that includes a repeal of "don't ask," but 60 senators are needed to cut off debate and proceed to a vote on the bill. A vote is scheduled for September 21.
Maine's senators, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, could prove to be critical votes. Collins previously voted to end the policy in the Armed Services Committee, but has said that she wants a "full and open debate" on the defense bill and requested that members of the GOP be allowed to offer amendments.
U.S. & World
A spokesman for Snowe said that she has not decided how to vote.
Gaga was escorted to this year's MTV Video Music Awards by ex-servicemembers who had been discharged under the policy.
Selected Reading: Huffington Post, Yahoo, MTV
