Lady Gaga The Face of Gay New York
Lady Gaga, a former Tisch student, has been gaining more praise for her activism than her new album as of late.
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Several lawmakers have applauded Gaga for her role in the gay rights movement, particularly in the state of New York.
"I congratulated and thanked her on her strong stance on marriage equality," said Assemblymember Deborah Glick, the state legislature's first openly gay member. "She reaches different demographics and encourages younger people on the issue. No one person can change the law but the efforts of a lot of people can. Celebrities use their profiles in progressive change and influence others."
At NYU, where many students identify themselves as homosexual, the issue of gay rights is particularly important. Tisch freshman Dimitri Moise, who identifies as gay, performed an a cappella Gaga song at the university's Ultra Violet Live competition. Gaga, he said, is great for the cause due to her pervasive influence.
"Having equal rights as others is something that is critical to me," he said. "I just hope that in the future our rights can be at the level as everyone else. Lady Gaga being a huge proponent of gay activism will be a huge support for this ... because [she] is so influential as a performer and a person."
Groups advocating marriage equality are also praising Lady Gaga for her efforts.
"I am so appreciative of Lady Gaga's vocal support of our community, from 'Don't ask, don't tell' to marriage equality," said Anthony Brown, executive director of The Wedding Party. "Most celebrities shy away from outspoken advocacy for LGBT issues, but Gaga has made it part of her persona and she continues to challenge her huge audience to step up and take a stand [for] equality in every way. ... She takes a no-nonsense approach to the issue and, through her advocacy, makes it not only acceptable to support gay equality, but she makes it cool."
Gaga made headlines this year when she ended an exclusive CD deal with Target stores due to the donations the company made to Minnesota gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, who had previously made homophobic comments. In a statement about Gaga's withdrawal, Target asserted that it did in fact support the LGBT community, saying that it "remain[ed] committed to the LGBT community as demonstrated by our contributions to various LGBT organizations."
As much as her music is about the "monster" of fame and the seductive nature of the spotlight, Evan Wolfson, the president and founder of the marriage equality group Freedom to Marry, says Gaga has wielded her star power in a positive way to help other people be heard.
"Lady Gaga is in a unique position to have her voice heard by millions across the world," he said. "By leveraging her platform to speak out on this issue, she is elevating the voices of millions of New Yorkers as well."
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