Lady Gaga in Arizona, shared via twitpic

Last night, was the Lady Gaga concert in Phoenix, Arizona and that made me incredibly sad. In addition to this, all week long, Gaga had been posting pictures of herself out and about in Arizona. Out of all the pop stars out there right now, Lady Gaga is by far the most progressive. She has been particularly vocal in her unwavering support of LGBTQ rights. But she had yet spoken out against SB1070, the recently passed and partially stopped Arizona law that allows local police departments to ask people for their documentation as long as there is reasonable suspicion that the person is in the US unauthorizedly. I kept asking myself, and her via her twitter, does she not know that there are queer brown people too? Even more so, has she not seen that there are LGBTQ undocumented youth out there as well? Queer and Immigrant, after all, are not mutually exclusive groups. There are people out there who belong to both.

Apparently, however, she does know this. And last night, Lady Gaga publicly expressed her opposition to SB1070. Although stopping short of boycotting Arizona, during her concert Lady Gaga urged her “little monsters” to peacefully protest SB1070. Here is the video.

So waking up this morning to check my twitter, I was overjoyed to discover this. Lady Gaga had at last spoken on behalf of justice for all humans! For a very brief moment (incredibly brief, super brief, brief-ísimo), I caught myself wondering whether this scantly clad Lady Gaga was, in fact, God incarnate. But of course, that would be preposterous. No, Lady Gaga is not God in human form. She is just a compassionate human being. And I realized, that’s why I want to believe (at least partially) that she isn’t truly human. We have become so used to musicians, actors, and celebrities that take on “safe” causes like spaying & neutering your pets or human rights causes involving violations out there, that when a celebrity speaks out about injustices happening right here, aquí in the US, it almost startles me.

But should it startle us? Shouldn’t this be expected of people who hold the nation’s attention more so than politicians and elected officials? Yes, I am fully aware their job is not to express their opinions on various issues. I don’t expect Freddie Prinze, Jr. to go on the record and present his plan the California state budget. But, part of the struggle for human rights in the US is not political. In fact, I would argue, most isn’t political at all. The majority of the struggle is achieving change at a social level. This is where our celebrities are most needed. They can be agents of social change. They can contribute to the creation of a more accepting US society.

This of course, is a double edged sword. If we encourage our celebrities to speak out in favor of social change, we will inevitably also encourage those who want social change, but not necessarily for the better. Exhibit A: Karyme Lozano. But this shouldn’t dishearten us. We need to keep fighting for justice and keep being advocates for social change. History, after all, is on our side. And after last night, so is Lady Gaga. Although I’m not quite sure yet which one is better.