Tag: lady gaga

#gaymarriageNY

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Kathryn Montalbano: After a 3-hour debate today in the New York State Assembly, the future of gay marriage in New York–and ultimately, the nation–remains unsolved and undistinguished from concurrent deliberation, including a property tax cap and New York City rent control.

Meanwhile, rallies in Albany–for and against gay marriage–have highlighted the preeminence of the issue amongst New York citizens despite the bill’s languid movement within the Senate’s walls.  While the fight for gay marriage, led by Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, remains relatively civil inside, tensions amongst and between protesters outside have steadily increased throughout the day.  According to Sharon Baum of New York City, “This is not about religion, this is about civil rights.”  Opposing protesters singing “This Little Light of Mine” and chanting “God says ‘No!'” apparently disagree with Ms. Baum.

While recent efforts in New Jersey, Maryland, and Rhode Island have failed to contribute to the national gay rights movement, hope is brewing around the pending outcome in New York, with demographics rendering it the third-most populous state in the nation. Continue Reading →

Taking Gaga Off the Lebanese Shelves

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Ashley Baxstrom: Not even a celebrity shout-out is enough to satisfy some.

The Los Angeles Times reported on Monday that Lady Gaga’s latest album Born This Way has been unofficially banned in Lebanon on the grounds that it may be “offensive to religion” in general and Christians in particular. The office of censorship said it had collected CDs and boxes full of the offending albums were reportedly stacked in Beirut police stations, though no formal ban has been announced by the government.

And all this despite the fact that the title single gives the country a shout-out. Continue Reading →

The Cult of Gaga

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Jo Piazza: If you have any doubt that Lady Gaga has cultivated both an aura of the sacred and a near cult-like following you weren’t inside the Jacob Javits Convention Center in Manhattan last week when the pop star famous for making it perfectly acceptable to dress in raw meat performed for the Robin Hood Foundation’s annual Gala. Continue Reading →