Madonna, the consummate advocate for gay rights, churned up contention this weekend when she spoke at the 24th annual Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) Awards in NY.
Presenting an award to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, the material girl helped GLAAD honor the best representations of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in the media.
Madonna, wearing a Cub Scout uniform told the audience “I think I should be allowed to be allowed to be a Boy Scout. And I think they should change their stupid rules, “she said at the start of a speech introducing Anderson Cooper, who was awarded GLAAD’s Vito Russo Award.
“Most people are not comfortable with things or people that they perceive as different from themselves,” Madonna said. “And I would wager that if we just took the time to get to know one another, did our own investigations, looked beneath the surface of things, we would find that we are not so different after all.”
“What did Jesus teach? It’s in all the holy books: Love thy neighbor as thy self,” she added. “We cannot use the name of God or religion to justify acts of violence, to hurt, to hate, to discriminate. Anyone out there sitting on a fence still — a sharp fence, I hope — I hope you’re listening.”
“When I think about young kids today in America who are being bullied and tortured, who are taking their own lives because they feel alone and judged, [like] outcasts and misunderstood, I want to cry a river of tears,” she said.
“[The bullying epidemic] is no different from a white supremacist hanging a black man from a tree before the Civil Rights movement. It’s no different than a member of the Taliban shooting a young girl in the head for writing a blog about the importance of female education. It’s no crazier than an Iranian gay man being hanged for falling in love with a man. I don’t know about you, but I can’t take this sh*t anymore. That is why I want to start a revolution. Are you with me? It’s 2013, people. We live in America — land of the free, home of the brave — that’s a question, not a statement.”