Lady Gaga responds to Dayton, El Paso, and Gilroy shootings with philanthropy (2024)

Like everyone else who's not a monster, Lady Gaga is deeply distraught following the recent spate of mass shootings. On Friday, she pledged to do something about it.

In a Facebook post, Gaga announced her intent to "fully fund the classroom project needs" in Dayton, Ohio; El Paso, Texas; and Gilroy, Calif. Those three communities have all suffered in recent weeks in the wake of mass shootings that left, in total, close to 100 people dead or injured.

"My heart goes out to those who were taken from us too soon and to their families, loved ones, and communities who are left to grieve," Gaga's note begins. "Everyone has the right to laws that make them feel safe in their communities. In this moment, I want to channel my confusion, frustration, and fury into hope. Hope that we are there for each other and for ourselves."

The message pulls up short of engaging with the politics of the moment, beyond the common sense proclamation that everyone has the right to laws that make them feel safe. Gaga focuses instead on making sure people who have been directly affected by lax gun control laws in the U.S. are safe and cared for.

The note goes on to say:

Surviving and recovering from these tragedies also means prioritizing your mental health and checking in on your loved ones. If you’re struggling, please be brave and tell a trusted someone. Don’t be scared to ask for help, I beg you. If you see a loved one struggling, please be brave and reach out, remind them it’s ok to not be ok, and listen to them. We cannot turn away from ourselves. We cannot turn away from our loved ones. We need each other. Don’t turn away.

The classroom philanthropy comes out of a partnership between DonorsChoose.org, an organization that aims to help classrooms in need, and the Born This Way Foundation, a youth-oriented non-profit Gaga co-founded with her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, in 2011. According to the pop star, it's going to help 14 classrooms in Dayton, 125 classrooms in El Paso, and 23 classrooms in Gilroy.

It's a commendable move, and just one of many acts of kindness that tend to follow these increasingly, heartbreakingly frequent shootings. Of course, while helping the kids is inarguably great, the kinds of real, meaningful changes that will be required to stem the tide of gun violence depend entirely on the federal legislature in Washington, D.C.

Unfortunately for all of us, an intractable Republican party and absolute abomination of a U.S. president continue to stand in the way of making those necessary changes.