THE US DEMANDING GAY RIGHTS SUPPORT AT UN BODY

(But first we've got to get our own house in order!)

According to Newsmax.com, The Obama administration will introduce its first statement calling for the United Nations' top human rights body to combat discrimination against gays and lesbians around the world, completing a U.S. reversal from years of ambiguity on the subject during the presidency of George W. Bush.

The U.S. declaration will be made Tuesday at the Geneva-based Human Rights Council and has the support of more than 80 countries. Although it is not in the form of binding resolution, the American push for U.N. action has helped win over a handful of new countries to the cause. A resolution could be brought to a vote later this year. The issue of gay rights has polarized nations at the U.N. for years. And despite growing acceptance for homosexuality in Western nations and parts of Latin America, lawyers and human rights activists say there is still a gap in human rights treaties for the protection of gays against discrimination and mistreatment.

"We are very concerned that individuals continue to be killed, arrested and harassed around the world because of their sexual orientation or gender identity," said Suzanne Nossel, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations. "This statement sends a strong message from across the globe that such abuses should not be tolerated." Again, I can only applaud the Obama administration for championing equal rights for all same-gender-loving people across the globe, especially in view of the recently proposed gay genocide in Uganda.

DON' BLAME ME FOR YOUR MESS!

Angel Mason's Blog

Angel Mason is one of America's most talked about civil rights activists and HIV advocates. He is an extraordinary poet and writer who is known for his breakthrough revolutionary book, Love Won't Let Me Be Silent, which is becoming a testament for many gays and lesbians struggling with their sexuality and the need to come out to their family and friends. What started out as a self-published nonfiction book has now become a literary phenomenon consistently earning him numerous literary nominations; while at the same time, gaining a place of reverence in the hearts and minds of millions of readers—both men and women worldwide.

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Don't Blame Me For Your Mess!

By Angel Mason on March 15, 2011

(MARRIAGE EQUALITY WILL BECOME A REALITY IN CALIFORNIA)

I am tired of being attacked, robbed, and denied equal rights by heterosexual religious zealots who blame same-gender-loving people for their failed marriages. Last year, on January 27, 2010, I read a statement released by the Associated Press, quoting the founder of a family values think-tank who said (while testifying before the California Supreme Court) that rights of same-sex couples should come second to preserving the cherished social institution of marriage. You may have also noted that this year, President Obama is catching a fair amount of grief from theologically conservative African American pastors for his decision to no longer defend the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which bans the recognition of same-sex marriage. Reverend Anthony Evans, who heads the National Black Church Initiative, recently lashed out at Obama, stating, "The president has harmed himself on this issue... He has openly offended the black church, and he didn't need to do it."
Most of my life, I have served in worship centers across America in one capacity or another, and I can tell you that what has eroded heterosexual marriages has nothing to do with a secret gay agenda and/or conspiracy spearheaded by evil men and women dressed in rainbow-hooded robes like the Ku Klux Klan in the '50 and '60s. I have decided to remain in the ranks, unlike many same-gender-loving men and women who have left the church because of crazy statements like these (heralded from pulpits across America) and attitudes that demean and demoralize them as individuals. So I know first-hand that the reason Bishop so-and-so and Prophetess so-and-so got divorced had absolutely nothing to do with my attraction to another man. I didn't live in their house! I did not attend their lavish wedding! I certainly didn't secretly carry on an illicit sexual affair behind the scenes with either of them. And I was not the confidant they confided in when things began to crumble in their marriages and the erotic flame burned out in their sex lives. Nor was I the person they sought when they made their decision to marry and needed marriage counseling, although after observing the horrific aftermath of their failed marriage, perhaps I should have been!

Melissa Etheridge made a profound statement when she questioned the U.S. government's right to extract taxes from her (a hard-working same-gender-loving U.S. Citizen), yet deny her the right to marry the person she loves. Well, this is not something that is new to me as an African-American. For years, this same so-called Democratic government has denied people of color across this great nation their equal rights, all the while working them to death to build their mansions, work on their plantations, prosper their businesses by stealing their inventions and creative ideas, and pad their financial portfolios. Then one day, a Black man by the name of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from Atlanta, Georgia, got fed up and said "Enough"!!! Dr. King radically galvanized a generation in a time when everything was against them! People took to the streets with signs in hand - much like the LGBT community has done and began to demand what is due them as law-abiding, tax-paying citizens.

It was not an easy battle, change never is! This is something I learned as a Black youth growing up in Southeast Los Angeles. During this very era, many were left bleeding and decapitated as their dead bodies were left swinging from trees side to side, blown by the winds of hatred and discrimination, the result of being horribly disfigured and murdered. Some were maimed, having lost limbs like legs or arms and mothers kicked in the stomach - never again able to bear children after brutal beatings. But something in them kept them from turning back, even in the face of insurmountable odds. They persevered in their struggle until all Americans could enjoy the freedom of which this country proudly boasts.

So no, I won't shut up or go quietly into the night and stop protesting just because certain conservative Evangelical pastors and redneck politicians threaten to withdraw their support from the President of the United States (Barack Obama) in future elections. I appreciate the fact that Obama is working diligently behind the scenes to ensure that one day, I can walk down the aisle in the state that I live in and say "I do" to the man I love; and be able to avail myself to the same healthcare benefits and federal benefits and provisions that heterosexuals who enter a similar union are afforded.

I have one question to ask, especially to the so-called defenders of Civil Rights in the African-American community: What if during the Civil Rights Era, some misguided soul who headed a powerful political organization or government had the gall to stand up and say, "I think that equal rights for African-Americans should come second to preserving the cherished social institution of inequality and discrimination?!" Oops! Well, someone actually did say something similar to that! Governor George Wallace made numerous outlandish statements that were so crazy, until if I shared them with you now it literally would make the hair stand up on the back of your neck. And here is the knock-out punch: When he made these outlandish statements, millions of white Americans across the country cheered him and supported his backward discriminatory way of thinking, the same way many do when spiritual leaders mount the pulpit and bash gay people. Had it not been for President Kennedy intervening by appointing his brother, Robert, as Attorney General to deal with these issues, something that may have ultimately cost him his life, the Civil Rights Movement's stunning achievements may have been stymied and hindered, for who knows how long! Moreover, countless more innocent African-Americans would have been beaten and killed in public view, all to preserve the status quo.

A DYNAMIC LOVE POEM by ANGEL MASON, INTERNATIONAL POET

Where Have I Been All Your Life?
Is the Question You Asked Me!

I could not come into your life until you had finally realized that true love and sexual expression are two totally different things.

I could not come into your life until you were anchored in wisdom and in truth and could truly discern what true love is.

I could not come into your life or be the fulfillment of your dreams until the seductions of life had lost their appeal and the realization of what true relationship is had exploded in your mind.

I could not come into your life until you were willing to walk miles if you had to in your bare feet to find me, sacrifice the most expensive thing you own because now you realized that no material thing alone will ever fulfill you without love being present in your life.

I could not come until you were absolutely sure who you were and knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that when God made you, you were not a mistake or an accident and that there is no flaw in any of His Creations because, "God doeth all things well."

It wasn't that He was unwilling to answer or give me the true desire of my heart (and that was someone like you) but I too had to evolve to a place of readiness before my gift could manifest -- before you could walk into my life.

It is true, I longed for your love all my life  and prayed for you fervently more times than you could ever know, bombarding heaven with my request so many times until it is surprising that the Angels did not put me out of God's throne room!

There were seemingly endless days that I thought I would not last because I needed you so and you were nowhere to be found; so I allowed myself to be only partially fulfilled by others with selfish motives because I longed for the touch of a human hand and the need for intimacy was so strong.

There are so many, "I'm sorry God for not listening, not waiting, not being still and running ahead because of my impatience," I want to say to Him!

When I fell at His feet out of guilt and condemnation for my stupid mistakes and unwillingness to wait, He lifted me and beside Him you were standing.

When I saw you, I thought "Who is this? Why is he standing there? And then you spoke (while He said nothing, only with a smile of approval on His face) and the sound of your voice resonated in my spirit like a melody heard years ago, a song I was certain I had sung before, but not really.

When I thought about what I was hearing I realized that I had heard the melody years ago in a dream as a child and every since then I have searched the whole world over, year after year trying to find the written music but never could, only generic versions.

Now the melody rings in my ear as a confirmation to my heart and I am afraid that perhaps I have made too many mistakes, wondered too far away from the dream, am no longer worthy to receive it, though I desire it so!

The Lord would say to me "All are worthy!" But though He has forgiven me still my heart weeps because now I am ready, my mind is mature but I must know that the one who loves me back truly loves me because perfect love and only perfect love can cast out fear.

I need to know that the person in whose eyes I peer into will see that inside of this resilient man is a childlike spirit, beautiful and untainted by life who still dreams, still is fascinated with the beauty of creation, is in love with the Gentle Savior, ambitious, creative, yet admittedly a little weary of life!

Now time is fleeing from me, and fleeing from you (even though you may not be aware) like an hour glass now empty, not because we have done anything wrong, but because God has a divine plan for all of humanity that must unfold in order to restore His creation to its former state of perfection.

No more time for you or I to waste searching, hoping dreaming, looking, waiting...

We must take hold of the dream, realize that there is a price to pay for owning it, and never forsake it when we don't agree because Iron sharpens Iron and our imperfections might cause us to clash at times but if we run away from each other we will never come to understand that those same imperfections are invested with a supernatural power to perfect our love!

AN OPEN LETTER TO PREVIOUSLY INCARCERATED BLACK MEN FROM THE PEOPLE WHO LOVE THEM AND ARE IN LOVE WITH THEM

Now that you are no longer imprisoned behind walls of concrete and cold steel, now that you are no longer confined within a small squalid cell, now that you no longer live under the constant threat of murderous inmate violence and lockdowns, and no longer have to survive and subsist on bad tasting prison food, what will you do? Now that you have been granted the privilege of rejoining society and once more able to savor the sweet heady nectar of freedom, all we want to know is, will you keep The Promise of   Love you made to us?

The Promise of Love was the vow you made to us when you promised to turn from your former self-destructive ways. You promised to renounce them, reject them and repudiate them for the rest of your life! You made this promise to us because you said you loved us and truly cared for us. You vowed to cause us no further pain and disappointment, and that you would prove worthy of our trust. You pledged this Promise of Love to us, whom you said were the most important people in your life. This group encompasses God, family, friends, lovers, spouses, life partners and any others who entered into a emotionally intimate relationship with you. So now that you are free, we ask you, we challenge you, and without any remorse or shame, we beseech you to redeem this Promise of Love you made to us.

Because if you do, you will gain a world complete and replete with love, opportunity, and wonder. Conversely, if you fail to keep your Promise of Love, not only will you surely return to prison, but you run the real risk of ruining and terminating many of the supportive loving relationships of which you have been richly blessed!

Firstly, never forget for one moment that you, indeed, have truly been richly blessed...especially by God! God was the one who watched over you during your incarceration. He was the one who protected you from hurt, harm, and danger. God dried your tears, calmed your fears, assuaged your myriad insecurities, and gave you favor from the people whose benevolence you needed the most. God was there in your darkest moments of loneliness and doubt and demonstrated to you such unconditional love that you pledged to Him first, your Promise of Love. Of all the important relationships you possess in this life, treasure this one the most! NEVER take this one for granted because just as God granted you your freedom again, He can surely take it away! For was it not declared in the Bible that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." So we urge you to be wise and keep your Promise of Love that you made to Him.

Secondly, keep your Promise of Love to your friends, family, and loved ones. They have suffered much from your incarceration. They have been deprived of your presence, your hugs, your kisses, your loving embraces, and financial support. Because of you, they have been locked into emotional prisons of their own. When the steel doors closed upon you, so did their sentence of pain and emotional confinement begin. They could have easily mitigated their own hurt by denouncing and renouncing you. And some probably did, but the ones who did not, were the ones who truly loved you. They knew that to continue to love you would subject them to much pain, hurt, emotional and financial sacrifice. But they did not shirk nor shrink from this onerous task because they truly loved you and true love is made perfect through self-sacrifice. Make sure you are worthy of their sacrifice. Keep your Promise of Love to them!

A GLOBAL AUTHOR'S RESPONSE TO THE 2011 STATE OF UNION ADDRESS

STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS 2011

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address was informative, impartial, bipartisan, caring and demonstrated a genuine concern for the people who elected him to office and even those who didn't.There is no doubt in my mind that he is a man of integrity and is doing everything humanly possible to better the living conditions of all Americans.  Imagine what we could do if instead of attacking him and hurling unfair accusations at him, we responded favorably by coming to his aid by using our gifts, talents, resources, and genius abilities to solve the problems that plague our great nation. Instead, we waste valuable time, millions of tax  dollars and vital energy trying to demean him, to destroy his vision and one another through character assassination. Every elected official was sent to Washington, DC, not only to represent the will of the people but to ensure that government truly benefits the people; and this can only be accomplished by working together. When Jesus was maturing into manhood he said these inspiring words: "I must be about my Father's business (LK. 2:49)."  Perhaps it is time that our Senators, Congressmen and Congresswomen be about the Father's business as well, by doing what is truly best for the people and not just what is politically profitable for their individual parties, influential lobbyists, and the ultra rich.

Terry Angel Mason, Global Author
LOVE WON'T LET ME BE SILENT
WWW.TERRYANGELMASON.COM

SIX TEENS BULLIED TO DEATH

^{(A Global Campaign to Save Lives!)}

^{About a year ago I released my first book, entitled: Love Won't Let Me Be Silent. I still remember how excited I was about releasing the book; not just because it was my first, but because I knew that every word from cover to cover was divinely inspired and all I could think about was the countless lives that I knew the book would save. I was also relieved that hundreds, if not thousands of kids wouldn't be thrown out into the streets and estranged from parents after their guardians, friends and extended family members would read the book! As days, weeks, and months went by, it wasn't long before my mailbox was flooded with emails from parents of gay teens and same-gender-loving people of all ages, genders and ethnicities from all over the world, telling me how my book had dramatically changed their perceptions and even saved many of their lives. An added bonus was that distributors from all over the world began to pick my book up and distribute it like it was hotcakes on every continent, something I could never have anticipated or dreamed would happen! For days I walked around somewhat dazed, walking 10 feet above the ground because I couldn't wrap my brain around what was happening to me and how fast my life was changing. I went from being an unknown author to an internationally acclaimed author, literally overnight, with a book that had been nominated for more literary awards than one could imagine. Now before you prejudge me or think that I am just bragging about my accomplishments, I plead with you for just one moment to let me explain further why I am sharing this information with you. Just yesterday, I was stunned as I read the numerous headlines on the internet and in print about the six gay youths who had committed suicide this year, and believe me when I say; this is only the tip of the iceberg! Some ended their lives because of bullying (now a national epidemic), while one college student leapt from a bridge, killing himself after his roommate and friend streamed a video of him having sex with someone privately on the internet without his knowing or consent. Just to be very honest with you, I have been resting and basking in the sun of the numerous political gains that same-gender-loving people have achieved recently and enjoying my own personal success. Admittedly, I lost my focus and directed my attention to my personal needs and goals, since for so long they had been neglected, especially after having garnered so much media attention and international acclaim -- FRIENDS I AM JUST BEING HONEST! This euphoria was enhanced by the fact that things appeared to be slowly getting better for the LGBT community as Federal judges in high positions of authority began eradicating unconstitutional laws all over the country that clearly discriminate against same-gender-loving people. That's when something jolting happened; I was slapped in the face by life! That's what God has to do to us sometime when our success comes seemingly effortlessly and rapidly; slap us in the face with reality so we can realize that He has blessed us for a specific purpose and reason. For those of you who are familiar with the story of Esther in the Bible, that is exactly what God had to do to her after she had been elevated to queen when the Jews were in danger of being annihilated. Listen to the words her uncle Mordecai was inspired to write to her in an urgent letter, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit: For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?" (Esther 4:14 NIV)} 

AMERICA, I SEE YOUR TRUE COLORS SHINING THROUGH AND THEY AREN'T VERY PRETTY!

VIDEO LINK A MUST SEE!(The Raw Truth that Few Want to Hear)

Today is Saturday, January 8, 2011 and two weeks out of a month I devote an hour or two of my time teaching children music at my church. Even though I hate to get up early on Saturday mornings, I must admit that once I get to the rehearsal and I see the smiling faces of the children, I realize that it is worth my effort. As I was making my home from the rehearsal I kept seeing their innocent faces in my mind's eye and found myself marveling once again as I gained a deeper understanding of why the Savior loves children so very much.

After about 30 minutes or so I arrived home with a sigh of relief because I had left my house without eating breakfast and I felt as though I would be overcome by hunger pains; but before I could make my way to the kitchen I turned on the T.V. in my living room so that I could listen to the news while preparing lunch. To my horror and dismay, I discovered that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (a forty year old Democratic Senator who represents Congressional District 8 in Tucson, Arizona) and 19 others had literally been gunned down at an event (by gunman --- Jared Loughner) that Gabrielle (affectionately known as Gabby) was hosting at a nearby Safeway supermarket. The event, held outside was an opportunity for constituents to meet Congresswoman Giffords and talk about any concerns they had related to the federal government.

Chief Federal Judge, Justice John Roll (63, who had served on the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona since 1991) also in attendance, and a nine year-old child were also shot and killed along with four other unnamed victims, putting the death toll at six. 

Twenty people in total were shot and six killed, leaving Senator Gabby Giffords and 13 others clinging to life by a thread while being cared for at nearby Arizona Hospitals.

When asked by Gabby's father who was rushing to his daughter's bedside, if his daughter Gabby had any enemies, he responded by saying, "Yes, the entire Tea Party!"