Lady Gaga Leads Rally In Maine To Repeal American Military Policy Prohibiting Openly Gay Men And Women From Serving; An Attempt To Sway State’s Two Moderate GOP Senators To Vote Yes

Lady Gaga – sans a meat dress presumably – will lead a rally Monday afternoon, in Portland, Maine, at a public park near the University of Southern Maine is support of movement to appeal the American military ban on openly gay men and women serving, the rally, according to CBS News, organized by the nonpartisan Servicemembers Legal Defense Network, requesting that Maine’s two moderate Republican Senators – Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins – vote yes on a defense bill that will include language to implement the policy, enacted 17 years ago by the then Clinton administration. Collins, who voted in favour of authorizing the repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell, this summer when the issue was addressed by the Senate Armed Services Committee, is among the Senators SLDN believes necessary to formulate a full repeal of the policy. “All New England senators, indeed all 100 senators, Democrats and Republicans, need to engage in a real debate on this issue, and not just posture and spin this week over procedure and Senate rules,” said SLDN Executive Director Aubrey Sarvis. “We need Senators Snowe and Collins on board; they’re key to us breaking the filibuster.” The Senate is expected to vote on the defense spending budget Tuesday afternoon, however Arizona senator and failed Republican presidential candidate John McCain, is expected to block a vote by filibustering. A yes vote by at least 60 of the Senate’s 100 members would end the filibuster and allow for a full vote on the bill to continue. McCain says he is not directly opposed to ending the discriminatory policy, but that he did not want it repealed until after a full study is completed, saying “We need to study the effect on battle effectiveness and morale before we can orchestrate – enact a repeal because it really is an important issue.”