The singer talks candidly about childhood isolation at launch of her new foundation, but the real stars are the young people
I was invited to the launch of Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation (BTWF) last week. The queen of provocative performance's new project aims to help young people be brave and to "foster a more accepting society, where differences are embraced and individuality is celebrated".
As I entered the grand Harvard University hall I had to fight my scepticism – how could the world's most powerful, edgy, female performance pop icon really affect the lives of damaged, marginalised and bullied youth with integrity and authenticity? But there was no hard sell, no fancy staging, lighting or pyrotechnics on the bare wooden stage.
This was an unplugged event like no other, as first Oprah Winfrey, then Lady Gaga's mother, Cynthia Germanotta, and lastly – to rapturous applause – the 25-year-old Lady Gaga herself appeared. They had gathered to launch the foundation and talk about love, kindness, and bravery.
Earlier that day I had joined 90 experts from around the world at a symposium on youth meanness and cruelty brought together by the BTWF and Harvard's Berkman centre for internet and society. We were joined by 10 extraordinarily brave young people who were developing the kind of projects that the foundation seeks to promote. They were the real stars of the event. Sharing stories of starting school chapters to combat bullying, asking teachers for meetings at which they could share how it felt to be bullied for being gay, how – with no one else to help them – they had to turn to each other for support as they endured the "casual cruelty" and meanness online and in the playground.
Working as I do with excluded young people in London, I had asked my young experts back home what questions I should put to Lady Gaga. The simplest question was one I put to her mother: "What was Lady Gaga's school life like?"
She explained that as a child Lady Gaga had tried to be normal and was a very good student, getting involved in sport and going to summer camp. However, her enormous drive to create and perform her music became a conflict for her, especially when she wanted to write music while her friends were out playing and found that they didn't understand her. When the isolation and bullying started her teachers didn't see it. Her difference was what set her apart.
Is it any wonder then that a central thrust of the foundation's work will be helping to create safe spaces for young people to explore their identity and difference, and then being given the skills and opportunities to become modern-day warriors for a braver, kinder world?
Whether you are born this way, I'm not sure. Many of the children I work with aren't, it is often a cruel society and they have to struggle with feelings of abandonment by adults.
So does this role model and foundation have anything to offer our young people? Yes, of course, there is a lot we can share, especially about who are the real superstars.
• Stephen Carrick-Davies is a freelance trainer, writer and former CEO of internet charity Childnet International. His films with excluded young people can be seen at munchpokeping.com