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Even Lady Gaga protested DADT

Two weeks before the Senate vote, gay advocates were buoyed by a federal district court ruling declaring the military gay ban unconstitutional on Sept. 9 and by Lady Gaga’s aggressive adoption of the DADT repeal at MTV’s Video Music Awards on Sept. 12.

At one point, the afternoon of Sept. 14, Gaga and Reid communicated directly via Twitter.

Gaga tweeted: “Gay Veterans were my VMA dates. Repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. CALL HARRY REID to Schedule Senate Vote.” Reid immediately tweeted back.

Then Gaga really found her groove. On Sept. 17, she posted a seven-minute video to YouTube explaining DADT and the repeal effort in detail and showing her placing calls to her U.S. senators.

Gaga advised viewers to try calling their senators the following day during business hours and said she would do the same.

Now that the defense budget bill has halted, many Republicans have suggested they will agree only to a “continuing resolution” to keep the Defense Department funded. That would kill the version of the bill that contains the repeal of DADT.