Performer and recording artist Lady Gaga is an entertainment figure constantly in the spotlight--her bizarre wardrobes and comments on sexuality have received tremendous media attention--but her latest stint as an advocate for gay rights is generating controversy of a different sort. This week the singer put pressure on Maine GOP Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to back a repeal of the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in a defense spending bill. Lady Gaga has supporters in the fight to lift the policy, but Thomas Jefferson Street blogger Susan Milligan says Lady Gaga is not a good spokesperson on the issue. Citing a dress made of red meat that she wore to this month's MTV Music Video Awards, Milligan writes, "[I]t’s hard to hear the important and serious message of respect for human dignity from someone whose attire needs to be refrigerated between wearings. It simply fuels the unfounded fears of the homophobic." Gays and lesbians have made the legal progress that they have because Americans have realized they're not just outlandishly dressed characters out to corrupt morals, Milligan argues. [See who donated the most to Snowe's campaign.]
What do you think? Is Lady Gaga hurting the don't ask, don't tell fight? Take our poll and post your thoughts below.
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