Living Out Loud with Darian

Bishop Terry Angel Mason, author of the acclaimed book "Love Won't Let Me Be Silent- reviewed here on loldarian.com last fall is a radical voice to be reckoned with in the gay civil rights movement.


Mason has taken on the black church in a confrontational piece titled "Don't Blame Me For Your Mess!" published by the Pittsburgh Courier and over 40 additional newspapers across the U.S. .


Never one to hold his tongue when it comes to challenging homophobia and the inequality imposed on LGBT people of color by our own people, he holds no punches in questioning the black church on it's anti-gay stance and lays appropriate blame for it's silence on the HIV/AIDS crisis. A silence that many believe has caused an epidemic in the black community.


From The Pittsburgh Courier:


Yet, where are our pastors, the shepherds, and religious leaders we hold in high esteem and do everything to protect and cater to? In Washington, D.C. or in Sacramento, California, fighting to deny hard-working people the right to marry the person of their choice.


And what is their answer to the AIDS pandemic that is ravaging their ministries and claiming the lives of millions of their parishioners and the millions of men and women who are being herded like cattle in prison institutions, while unions and the private sector get filthy rich, the result of their incarceration? That is easy to answer. Channel over $45 million of their parishioners' tithes and offerings to combat Proposition 8 when many churches don’t even have a food pantry to feed the poor or a church bus to transport its elderly to and from church, no effective counseling programs for sexually-active teens to keep them from having children out of wedlock or prevent them from contracting AIDS or STDs, and no marriage preparation programs that deal with real issues for couples considering marriage.


The piece concludes:


And lastly, someone please inform them that the best way to shore up the institution of marriage is to spend generous amounts of time with their congregations and couples who are considering marriage and not be MIA (missing in action) because they are down at the courthouse protesting. Rather, teaching couples how to be good husbands and wives and how to walk in love and integrity from the Word of God. Jesus said that what convinces the world more than anything that we are His disciples is that we walk in love and live lives of integrity before people, not misappropriate $45 million fighting a proposition that will ultimately be overturned, which by the way, had it passed, would have generated countless millions of much needed revenue over the next ten years into California’s impoverished economy.


Wisdom would surely encourage our spiritual leaders to readjust their priorities and start addressing the real issues that plague their congregations and communities and to stop being remiss in their responsibilities as leaders and shepherds.


Amen brotha!


Watch Bishop Mason speak about many of the issues mentioned in "Don't Blame Me For Your Mess" and Love Won't Let Me Be Silent in the clip below. It begins at the 8:00 mark.

Terry "Angel" Mason/Up Close and Personal from Willie Williams on Vimeo.