'Overwhelmed' Beyoncé and Jay-Z preach LGBTQ acceptance in GLAAD Awards speech

#Beyoncé #JAY-Z #GLAADMediaAwards #GLAAD #LGBTQ

Taking a significant stand for acceptance and support of LGBTQIA people of color, pop icons Beyonce and Jay-Z accepted GLAAD Media's vanguard award on Thursday night in Los Angeles.

Each a cultural monolith in his/her own right, the husband-and-wife team dubbed "the most powerful black people in the country" by presenter Lena Waithe used the platform to rally Americans to protect their friends, family, and children, and love them "in their truest form," said Beyonce.

Emotions ran high in the international ballroom of the Beverly Hilton Hotel, as Waithe and fellow presenters helped contextualize the value of Mr. and Mrs. Carter's endorsement of queer identities.

Trans writer and director Janet Mock spoke of the significance of her casting in Jay-Z's music video for "Family Feud," in which director Ava DuVernay envisioned her as an architect of a new America, far in the future, where a woman like her held a seat at a table of power.

"It was a vital intervention to a worldwide audience that LGBQ people are worth being seen, heard, and affirmed," said Mock, wiping away tears.

HIV activist Morris Singletary asked an audience, including Gwyneth Paltrow and emerging singer Lizzo, to imagine "if the world was one big Jay-Z and Beyonce concert? What a wonderful world this would be." He said the inclusive nature of their shows see black and white, gay and straight fans celebrating alongside each other in a safe space. He also praised Beyonce's famous, tireless work ethic as an inspiration for his own fight against HIV.

Beyonce's former, longtime stylist Ty Hunter spoke of their meeting at the Houston Galleria in 1999, when her mother and Destiny's Child style director Tina Knowles plucked him from retail and employed him on the girl group's world tour.

Hunter said the couple was not in the room on Thursday "for attention, they are here because they believe in acceptance." Hunter thanked Beyonce for teaching him never to compare himself to anyone else, and in an emotional moment, thanked Jay-Z for being a straight man "comfortable in his damn skin" who accepted him, and "lets other straight men know that this is the way to go."

When finally taking the stage, Jay-Z spoke first about his mother Gloria, herself a GLAAD Award recipient last May. On his latest album, specifically the track "Smile," Jay-Z shared her lifelong struggle to conceal her lesbianism in favor of her children and her culture.

"Mama had four kids, but she's a lesbian. Had to pretend so long that she's a thespian. Had to hide in the closet, so she medicate. Society shame and the pain was too much to take," he raps on the track. In the room, Jay-Z said he was "following in her footsteps of spreading love and acceptance," and thanked his mom for allowing him to tell her story.

In her introduction, Waithe perhaps said it best. She said "4:44" was an instant classic, but "Smile" made the work "revolutionary." She called the song "a modern-day negro spiritual, reminding those in hiding there is still time to make their way to freedom."

A flustered Beyonce took the mic and admitted to being "overwhelmed" by the outpouring from Mock and her fellow presenters. "We are here to promote love for every human being," she said. She encouraged the room to look first to friends and family.

"Let's tell them they are loved, tell them they are beautiful, speak out and protect them. And parents, let's love our kids in their truest form," said Beyonce.

In perhaps the most revealing moment of the evening, Beyonce shared that her Uncle Johnny died of a struggle with HIV. Johnny contributed behind-the-scenes to Destiny's Child and was a major influence on her and sister Solange, the singer said through tears. She called his loss was "one of the most painful experiences I've ever lived."

Ending on a light note, Beyonce boiled down sexual orientation and the freedom to love to simple human rights. She referenced one of her most famous lyrics from the black female empowerment anthem "Formation," wherein she pledges to wine and dine her partner after an intimate moment.

"Who you make love to and take that ass to Red Lobster? It's your human right," she said.

By Variety March 29, 2019,

Are we really listening to what MLK had to say?

#MartinLutherKingJr #MLK #CivilRights #DrKing In 2020, the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday falls in a national election year, one that reminds us of the importance of voting rights, citizenship and political activism to the health of our democracy. King imagined America as a "beloved community" capable of defeating what he characterized as the triple threats of racism, militarism and materialism. The passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act, alongside the 1954 Brown Supreme Court decision, represents the crown jewels of the civil rights movement's heroic period. Yet King quickly realized that policy transformations alone, including the right to vote, would be insufficient in realizing his goal of institutionalizing radical black citizenship toward the creation of the "beloved community." King argued that justice was what love looked like in public. 2020 also marks the 55th anniversary of the passage of the Voting...

Coping With Moods: The Challenge of the Turbulent Mind

#Mood #Impulses #selfregulate #selfsoothe #Triple5LightTherapy #BlackMaleTherapist #Psychotherapy The power of moods and impulses can be overwhelming, but we can learn to self-regulate and self-soothe through awareness practices like meditation and mindfulness. By developing a healthy dialogue with our emotional nature, we can access deeper parts of ourselves and become more resilient in the face of stress and pressure. Rather than being swept away by our ever-shifting moods, we can learn to pause and reflect before acting. by Gillian McCann, Ph.D., and Gitte Bechsgaard, RP

Daylight saving time begins soon: when do we change the clocks?

#Daylightsavingtime #March8 Since the winter solstice on Dec. 21, 2019, the nights have been getting shorter, and the days are longer. So, when do we change the clocks? Daylight saving time (often erroneously said as daylight savings time) begins Sunday, March 8, 2020. via GIPHY That Sunday, the clocks will spring forward, causing areas that practice daylight saving time to lose an hour (don't worry, the hour is gained back in the fall). When the clock strikes 2 a.m., the time will change to be 3 a.m. via GIPHY Most of the United States practices daylight saving time, much to the disdain of lawmakers including Lancaster County Sen. Scott Martin (R-Martic Township). Arizona is the only state that refrains from practicing daylight saving due to the summertime heat. The residents of Arizona prefer their cooler nights as a break from the harsh temperatures, according to the National Geographic. The amount of sunlight ...

9 things about MLK's speech and the March on Washington

#MLK #MartinLutherKingJr #MarchonWashington #IHaveaDream "I have a dream this afternoon that my four little children will not come up in the same young days that I came up within, but they will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not the color of their skin." The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke these words in 1963, but this was not the speech that would go down as one of the most important addresses in US history. King spoke these words in Detroit, two months before he addressed a crowd of nearly 250,000 with his resounding "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington for Freedom and Jobs on August 28, 1963. Several of King's staff members actually tried to discourage him from using the same "I have a dream" refrain again. As we all know, that didn't happen. But how this pivotal speech was crafted is just one of several interesting facts about what is one of the most important moments in the 2...

Triple5Light Therapy

Search This Blog