It's a common misconception that Darwin stated that "we evolved from monkeys." Monkeys and humans diverged at a recent point in time (biologically speaking) from a *common ancestor.* We're closely related, but we did not "come from" monkeys.

Haha! Sorry about that. I went through this so many times to change diction here and there. Little things inevitably get lost along the way. Hope it didn't bother you too much. ;)

This idea that you can change the way people think about others by calling them names (Bigot! Hater! Reactionary! Homophobe!) is ridiculous. Polls consistently show that once people understand that being gay is not a choice, the rest will follow. Everyone's working around periphery when we need to go straight to the core.

My objection to the fight against DADT is one mostly of tone. I'm mildly against it, but there are people out there acting like it's most egregious miscarriage of justice in the West. This is ridiculous. The military is not a venue to push social equality, but to protect the homeland. Every attempt to integrate a group should be done only when the military thinks it's okay -- and that goes for racial minorities, women, and any other sub-group, too.

A large segment of Gaga's fans are indeed teenagers, but most are not. I've been to a Gaga concert (September 2009); it was mostly twenty-something types, largely gay men and their friends. They eat this stuff up because our nation is producing people who are stuck in perpetual adolescent mode. Either way, I'm tired of the therapy sessions being offered to gay teens coming to terms with their sexuality. When I was 15, I should have had someone kicking my ass and telling me: This is the hand the universe dealt you, now go play it instead of brooding around! -- People need challenges, not therapy! They need to be shown that their challenges are never as great as their opportunities. That goes for teenagers, too, and people underestimate them.

Er, and -- obviously, I'm not going to slam her for contributing money to help gay teenagers who have been kicked out of their homes. But at the same time, that's not a shield that repels all other criticisms of her.

I'm sorry, no: Lady Gaga is not a teen pop artist like Justin Bieber or Miley Cyrus. if she wants to help thirteen-year-old boys feel comfortable with their emerging sexuality, she should go join that set. But if she wants to be taken seriously in the same league as Beyonce, Rihanna, and Britney, then this therapeutic stuff has got to go. The entire point of what I'm going for is that getting depressed and despondent is pointless. Channel that energy into something productive rather than sitting around feeling sorry for yourself. If someone is feeling alienated, you can either pamper them ("It's alright, honey, you were born this way, there's a freak in all of us!") or challenge them ("Here's the hand that the cosmos dealt you, okay? Now how are you going to play it?") -- the former produces the spoiled-brat mentality; the latter produces interesting, self-sustaining individuals. "You're a star, and you were born that way" -- Entitlement-mentality claptrap.

Piggy Hilton! Oh, where to begin? The fact that he's Gaga's BFF makes my arguments for me.

Oh...this is so, so provincial. Has the Gay Party so colonized your mind that you can conceive of no other way to be supportive of gay people than to rally around the rainbow flag and march against Don't Ask Don't Tell? I mean, this is ridiculous -- I mean, arguably, I was largely critiquing Gaga from the left! I called for a "truly liberated, pro-gay ethos" that bypasses the establishment in favor of venerating artists like Oscar Wilde -- not for a pray-away-the-gay session. Gay people, unlike straight people, grew up with a sexual and emotional alienation that can be very helpful in creative endeavors. It's psychologically healthy to want to cultivate that and channel it into something productive. Gaga totally ignores this aspect of the link between artistry and homosexuality in favor of some dumb Oprah Winfrey therapy session: "We were born this way! God makes no mistakes!" This is awful. It's just such an incredible waste of her platform.

She's done so. Here's a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0M2u-cu0so

I'm not questioning her musical talent. No one can deny that she is a competent singer and pianist.

Let me put it to you this way:

Jerry Falwell saw gay men as a homogeneous bunch of effeminate, shallow, fashion-obsessed drones whose lives revolve around their sexual orientation. Lady Gaga sees them that way, too. The only difference is that she likes this.

As a gay man, I'd like to see this entire paradigm shattered. It won't be shattered by working with Gay Establishment hacks like GLAAD, the Human Rights Campaign, and DADT-obsessed professional gays. How about something that calls for taking the sexual alienation we felt while growing up and turning it into a creative force? Nope! That's not our Gaga -- she wants us to get in a circle, hold hands, and tell each other that "God makes no mistakes, because we were born this way." Lady Gaga, in this way, is more Oprah Winfrey than Oscar Wilde.

Leaves Eyes has never impressed me much; my favorite work of Liv Kristine's is actually the Nymphetamine Fix collaboration! Although -- "Skraelings" is a very good song. I'm a Nightwish fanboy, though, and love bands like After Forever and Epica. I should take this moment to evangelize my favorite female-fronted metal band that no one's heard of: Dawn of Destiny. YouTube "Days of Crying." So. Epic. Dr. Luke and RedOne can't hold a candle to the ladies of metal.

She is by far the loudest compared to her contemporaries in pop music. Who are the other female pop artists who have had recent #1s? -- For comparison's sake: Britney Spears, Beyonce, Rihanna, Kelly Clarkson, Katy Perry, Ke$ha. They're all very quiet about politics. It's Gaga alone who says that her concerts are "youth churches" to do things like stand up against the Evil Jan Brewer.