Two Arizona Fans Move Lady Gaga to Speak Out Against #SB1070

Pop Star says Arizona is in a "state of emergency" calls on fans to actively protest discrimination.

08.02.2010 – Two Arizona Fans Move Lady Gaga to Speak Out Against SB 1070

Pop Star says Arizona is in a "state of emergency," calls on fans to actively protest discrimination.

Phoenix, AZ. 7/31/2010.

One week before the pop phenom, Lady Gaga, was scheduled to perform a concert in Phoenix, AZ, two young gay migrant rights organizers posted letters to the star on Facebook asking her to meet with them.

Victor Medina and Amelec Diaz wanted Lady Gaga to understand the humanitarian crisis in Maricopa County and its particular affect on Latino and migrant members of the LGBTQ community. (Letters can be found at http://bit.ly/gagaletters)

The letters sparked growing support and launched on-line petitions by LGBTQ rights groups like GetEqual.org that supported the youth’s request for a meeting so that she could be a champion of migrant rights issues in Arizona as she has stood up for the gay community elsewhere.

Amelec Diaz is an undocumented student who experienced his own home being raid by immigration enforcement. Victor Medina explained in his letter, “The situation in Arizona has come to a boiling point. Our people are being attacked, targeted by the color of our skin, and how we speak by certain recent laws passed.”

Lady Gaga’s management positively responded to the request and the singer held a meeting with the two shortly before her sold out performance in the 14,000 seat arena. After the meeting, she tweeted to more than five million followers, “Tonight we will continue to actively protest social and political injustices in Arizona. We will sing, we will stand up, + we will be heard.”

She performed that night with “Stop SB 1070” written on her arm, pausing in the middle of her show to denounce the bill and call on fans to “peacefully protest and speak against discrimination everywhere.” After a mix of applause and boo’s, she continued to say, “without immigrants this country wouldn’t have sh*t.”

The star’s decision to speak out places her as a champion for equality in both LGTBQ and migrant communities and is yet another celebrity to denounce the recent hateful laws passed in Arizona. The two young fans and those that signed petitions to Lady Gaga consider the response a victory and a boon for efforts to move the President to do more to intervene in the “state of emergency.”

Video of Lady Gaga speaking out available at http://youtube.com/solrebelunity

Follow news on twitter at @getequal and @puenteaz.
Victor Medina and Amelec Diaz available for interview upon request. Contact B. Loewe at bloewe@onpointconsortium.org