I don’t like Lady GaGa anymore.
Not because she’s become more mainstream than Miley Cyrus, not because her latest album sounds like a rehash of hits from the ’90s, and not because she started referring to her fans as monsters. I don’t like her because she perpetuates the idea that gay people are freaks. GaGa validates everything The Family Research Council thinks and says about gays on a daily basis. That gays are inept, narcissistic, unmotivated, drug-infused, flamboyant, caddy and bizarre. Lady GaGa is to gay people what Flava-Flav is to African Americans. Except she isn’t gay.
Let’s back up to summer 2008. The first time I heard “Just Dance”, I loved it and wanted more. I bought GaGa’s album on itunes the day it came out, and got tickets to see her in concert (they were $20 at the time). In March of 2009 I went to the concert with a few friends and was blown away. She really was a fantastic performer with the right attitude and good music. There’s no doubt the woman has talent. Everyone at that concert knew she was going to be really, really big.
Things are a little different now. GaGa is a grammy-winning superstar. She calls her fans monsters and has only gotten stranger and louder. Consensus is her latest album pails in comparison to the last. While it has some catchy hooks, most are forgettable, and many are way too familiar for some (listen to “Electric Chapel” and “My Favourite Game” by the Cardigans back-to-back, it’s the same song). The singles have done well, but there’s just something missing.
I’m a firm believer in be who you are and do what you want, but you can’t put out songs about being in love with Judas and stick subliminal Illuminati symbols all over your videos without scaring the Sunday Crocs off of Wal-Mart Shoppers. When you’re less than 10 percent of the population trying to convince the other 90 percent of the population you’re equal to them and deserve rights as such, it just doesn’t help to have someone that polarizing (and, for most of middle America, frightening) speaking out on your behalf. Some might argue that people have the right to be who they are and that’s what gay rights advocates are fighting for. Maybe they should, and maybe they are, but progress takes time. You can’t just shove some fake blood and a disco stick in the face of an Alabama housewife and expect her to hang a rainbow flag outside her trailer.
Don’t confuse this message with one that every homosexual should be the “discreet, straight-acting” guy on Grinder that wants it up the ass all night (followed by an intense crying session.) No, gay people should be who they are. PEOPLE should be who they are. But most gay people are just like everyone else, sans the butt sex (except I have these Venezuelan neighbors and I’m pretty sure this girl is getting it from her boyfriend), and we need more people who represent that. People like Ellen DeGeneres, Ricky Martin, Neil Patrick Harris, etc. High-profile people who know what they’re fighting for and why they’re passionate about it. Those are the people that will win over the 90 percent, rather than alienate them.
Some accuse GaGa of exploiting the gay audience and making claims she cares about gay rights just for publicity. I won’t go that far because I don’t know her and can only assume her heart is in the right place. She’s probably a lovely person. There is something to be said about any artist, straight or gay, that speaks out in favor of gay rights. Still, one could imagine most social workers would be hesitant to give Lady GaGa a baby, and then would probably think twice about anyone she endorsed for the care of said baby. While the message may be appropriate, the persona delivering it does not seem so.
The bottom-line is: gays shouldn’t want Lady GaGa representing them in the political arena any more than African Americans should want Flava-Flav to cosign on their auto loan. You may have a good message, but any message is difficult to deliver when the recipients think you’re the spawn of Satan. Keep Try making some good music for your next album, keep your little monsters happy, do some crazy shit, wear some crazy things, but for the love of god please stay away from our President and Senators.
Now for the record, I’m not a Democrat or a Republican, though I am a left-leaning Independent. I think the very existence of political parties is one of the reasons things are so fucked up right now (you’re a “moderate Democrat” but you love guns, hate abortion, and just-for-fun ran over a gay Mexican with your SUV this morning? idk). I used to be a really hardcore liberal (like one time I recycled for a whole week and voted for John Kerry) but then I had a job working in healthcare while I was in college and the exposure to medicaid patients kinda turned me into a super-conservative asshole (I shot Dolphins with a rifle and ripped up old people’s social security checks for a week). Now I fall in line with most of America as a lukewarm, apathetic moderate. Sarah Palin’s antics don’t make me laugh like they used to (isn’t it like shooting wolves from a helicopter at this point?) and I don’t quite understand why Harry Reid is allowed to be in charge of anything. Being an Independent is the best thing that ever happened to me.