Lady Gaga is a crusader for anti-bullying

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- People can disagree about Lady Gaga's singing talent and fashion sense, but there's one thing most can agree with -- her stance against bullying.

Gaga, who was bullied growing up as Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, started Born This Way Foundation in 2011 with her mother, Cynthia Germanotta. She launched the group March 1 at Harvard University with Oprah Winfrey.

The Born This Way Foundation was created to "foster a more accepting society, where differences are embraced and individuality is celebrated," according to the foundation's website. "We believe that everyone has the right to feel safe, to be empowered and to make a difference in the world."

Last year, after Jamey Rodemeyer, 14, from Buffalo, N.Y., committed suicide because he was bullied for being gay, Gaga wrote on Twitter: "Bullying must become illegal. It is a hate crime.

"The past days I've spent reflecting, crying, and yelling. I have so much anger. It is hard to feel love when cruelty takes someone's life.

"Our generation has the power to end it. Trend it #MakeALawForJamey."

Rodemeyer had written on Facebook these lyrics from Gaga's song "The Queen": "Don't forget me when I come crying to heaven's door."

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, bullying, particularly among school-age children, is a major public health problem both domestically and internationally.

"Current estimates suggest that nearly 30 percent of American adolescents reported at least moderate bullying experiences as the bully, the victim, or both. Of a nationally representative sample of adolescents, 13 percent reported being a bully, 11 percent a victim of bullying and 6 percent reported being! both a bully and a victim."

"I'm not here today to give you an answer," Gaga said in a story on mtv.com. "And I'm not here to tell you I can solve these problems. This is about transformative change in culture over a period of time. This is not an anti-bullying foundation; this is a youth-empowerment foundation. This is about changing the climate of the school environment and not putting the power in the hands of the teachers or the government ... I don't believe they have the answers; I believe that you do."

Oprah is on board with the singer's foundation.

"I was recently with the great Gloria Steinem, who said that sometimes the only way you can get attention to a problem is to freak people out. 'Break the form. You have to stop playing the game in order to change the content,'" Winfrey was reported as saying.

"Lady Gaga, with her music and her message and her own story, is breaking the form, and she is changing consciousness."

For more information go to www.bornthiswayfoundation.org.

Pillars of Lady Gag's Born This Way Foundation

Safety: Creating a safe place to celebrate individuality.

Skills: Teaching advocacy, promoting civic engagement and encouraging self-expression.

Opportunity: Providing ways to implement solutions and impact local communities