Bisexual pop star Lady Gaga appeared in
Portland, Maine on Monday to urge senators to end “Don't Ask, Don't
Tell,” the 1993 law that allows gay troops to serve on the
condition they remain celibate and closeted.
On Sunday, the Alejandro singer
tweeted her more than 6 million followers: “Meet me in Portland,
Maine 2moro to help repeal #DADT. I'm holding a Rally + speaking
live in Deering Oaks Park.”
At the rally, held near the University
of Southern Maine and titled #4THE14K, a reference to the nearly
14,000 gay and lesbian soldiers discharged under the policy, Lady
Gaga made an impassioned plea for Congress to end the policy.
“Equality is the prime rib of
America,” she said, referring to a meat dress she wore to the MTV
Video Music Awards. “But because I am gay, I don't get to enjoy
the greatest cut of meat my country has to offer.”
The 28-year-old singer is on a
one-woman crusade that first began several weeks ago when she met
with gay troops impacted by the policy.
On Friday, after
walking the Video Music Awards red carpet escorted by four gay
military veterans and after
exchanging tweets on the subject with Senate Majority Leader Harry
Reid, she released a video imploring her fans to join the cause.
“I am here to be the voice of my
generation, not the generation of the senators who are voting, but
the youth of this country,” Lady Gaga says perched in front of an
American flag. “The generation that is affected by this law and
whose children will be affected. We are not asking you to agree with
or approve of the moral implications of homosexuality, we're asking
you to do your job: To protect the constitution.
Supporters
of repeal are targeting Senators John McCain of Arizona and Olympia
Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine in an effort to break an expected
Republican filibuster on Tuesday when the Senate considers repeal
of the 17-year-old law.