Opinion: Gays Grateful for Lady Gaga

(Sept. 18) -- Like any pop artist worth her stardom, Lady Gaga knows how to make her presence felt.

The most recent instance of this is the dress of raw meat she wore while accepting Video of the Year honors for "Bad Romance" at the MTV Video Music Awards.

Since taking the stage in butcher couture, she's been the butt of jokes from the likes of Joan Rivers while drawing the ire of those fun-loving folks at PETA.

Scott Legato, FilmMagic.com

Lady Gaga asked fans this week to call their senators and urge them to try to thwart the efforts of conservatives, who have threatened to filibuster any attempt to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

For Gaga, the beef over buns gimmick was her means of showing disgust at the U.S. military for its controversial "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

As she explained on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, "If we don't fight for our rights, pretty soon we're going to have as much rights as the meat on our own bones. And I am not a piece of meat."

Somewhat baffling analogies aside, her core intentions are clear: She wants to bring awareness to the plight of gay Americans.

It's evident in her bringing along four gay military veterans on the red carpet at Sunday's awards show.

While she shared the couch with DeGeneres, she pleaded with viewers to reach out to Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., to push for a vote to repeal "don't ask, don't tell."

She also made this appeal directly to her fan base through Facebook, Twitter, and You Tube.

Her efforts were not in vain, as the Senate majority leader tweeted Gaga in response: "There is a vote on #DADT next week. Anyone qualified to serve this country should be allowed to do so."

On Thursday, Gaga asked her fans, or "little monsters" as she refers to them, to call their senators in order to thwart the efforts of conservatives like Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who have threatened to filibuster any attempt to repeal DADT.

For some this is nothing more than yet another example of a babbling celebrity who confuses their role of entertainer and the limited influence they feel it should yield in anything not related to the stage.

I understand the perspective of those who hate it when a celebrity gets into politics, as very few enjoy being lectured to.

But, to those who know what it's like to be told you can't be who you are while living in and serving a country consistently boasting of freedom, what Lady Gaga is doing is substantial.

In a recent interview with RWD magazine, the biggest musical star on the planet had this to say about the power that comes with her popularity: "I knew I had an ability to change the world when I started to receive letters from fans: 'You saved my life,' 'I'm gay and my parents threw me out.' My fans have related to me as a human being and as a non-human being -- as a super-human person that I truly am."

As dramatic as that may sound, many of her "little monsters" can attest to those words.