BY NOREEN FAGAN – You
just have to love Lady Gaga. The diva has announced the upcoming launch of
a charity, the Born This Way Foundation, that will focus on issues such as bullying.
The foundation is partnered with the MacArthur Foundation, The California Endowment and the Berkman Center for Internet and
Society at Harvard University.
It is going to be a family-run affair, with Gaga at the helm
alongside her mother, Cynthia Germanotta.
In a statement, Lady Gaga called the foundation, which is
obviously named after her hit single and gay anthem “Born This Way,” a “passion
project.”
She says that she and her mother “hope to
establish a standard of bravery and kindness, as well as a community worldwide
that protects and nurtures others in the face of bullying and abandonment.”
On a less gushy note, she added that the charity will
work toward “youth empowerment and equality by addressing issues like
self-confidence, well-being, anti-bullying, mentoring and career development
and will utilize digital mobilization as one of the means to create positive
change.”
In the last year Lady Gaga has become a frontrunner in the campaign against bullying — after the suicide of US teen Jamey Rodemeyer,
Gaga paid tribute to him in a concert at the iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las
Vegas. Gaga told the audience, “I just wanted to take a moment
because we lost a little monster this week. Jamey, I know you’re looking down
on us and you’re not a victim; you’re a lesson to all of us.”
The Born This Way Foundation will be launched in 2012, and I, for
one, cannot wait.
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