Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Katherine addressed mourners at the Staples Center Tuesday, tearfully telling them her father was "the best father you could ever imagine."
"Ever since I was born, daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," the 11-year-old girl said. "And I just wanted to say I love him so much."
The girl spoke after Jackson's brothers Jermaine and Marlon bid tearful goodbyes to the King of Pop.
"Michael, when you left us, a part of me went with you," Marlon Jackson said. "And a part of you will live forever within me but also a part of you will live forever within all of us."
Before the final words Jackson's band members, family, children and celebrities filled the stage at the Staples Center on Tuesday to sing Jackson's "Heal the World."The song followed a performance of "We are the World," the 1985 hit written by Jackson and Lionel Richie to raise money for African famine relief.During the memorial, a host of friends, stars and politicians gathered to remember the King of Pop.Berry Gordy, founder of Motown Records, called Michael Jackson the "greatest entertainer that ever lived."
"The more I think and talk about Michael Jackson, I feel the King of Pop is not big enough for him," Gordy said as the crowd rose to its feet. "I think he is simply the greatest entertainer that ever lived."
Gordy also recalled how when he auditioned the Jackson 5 in 1968, 10-year-old Michael was talented beyond his years.
"He was driven by his hunger to learn, to constantly top himself, to be the best. He was the consummate student. He studied the greats and became greater. He raised the bar and then broke the bar," Gordy said.
Jackson's golden casket was placed in front of the stage at his memorial as a choir sang.
Several of Jackson's older brothers, each wearing one sequined glove, served as pallbearers, carrying the coffin to the stage as the Andrae Crouch choir sang "Soon and Very Soon."The stage at the Staples Center resembled a church sanctuary with a stain-glassed backdrop.Mariah Carey was joined by Trey Lorenz singing The Jackson 5's 1970 hit "I'll Be there" as a montage of Jackson photographs appeared on arena screens.Queen Latifah, saying she was on stage to represent "millions of fans inspired by Michael," said "Michael was the biggest star on earth." Lionel Richie then performed the song "Jesus is Love."Stevie Wonder took the stage next, sitting at a keyboard.
"This is a moment that I wished that I didn't live to see come, but as much as I can say that and mean it, I do know that God is good," Wonder said. "And I do know that as much as we may feel, and do, that we need Michael with us, God must have needed him more."
Wonder then delivered an emotional version of his 1971 song "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer." Basketball stars Kobe Bryant and Magic Johnson also addressed the crowd. Singer Jennifer Hudson took to the stage and sang Jackson's song "Will You Be There."The Rev. Al Sharpton addressed the crowd and spoke of Jackson's contribution to the music world.
"When Michael started, it was a different world, but because Michael kept going, because he didn't accept limitations, because he refused to let people decide his boundaries, he opened up the whole world in the music world," Sharpton said. "He put on one glove, pulled his pants up and broke down the color curtain."
Sharpton then addressed Jackson's children.
"There wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," he said. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it."
Singer John Mayer then took out his guitar and performed Jackson's "Human Nature."An emotional Brooke Shields, who was 13 when she became close friends with Jackson, said they bonded "because we both understood what it was like to be in the spotlight from a very, very young age."The service turned to tears, though, as Jackson's brother Jermaine sang "Smile," a favorite song of Michael's. After struggling not to cry through the song, Jermaine was hugged by his surviving brothers as he left the stage.Martin Luther King III, Bernice King and Congresswoman Shiela Jackson Lee also addressed the crowd.Usher later sang "Gone Too Soon," as he walked towards Jackson's casket.Earlier in the memorial Smokey Robinson read personal messages from several of Jackson's celebrity friends who could not attend.
"Michael was a personal love of mine, a treasured part of my life, part of the fabric of my life, in a way that I can't seem to find words to express" Diana Ross said in a message read by Robinson.
Robinson also read a message from Nelson Mandela, saying they had grown close after trips and performances in South Africa.
"We had great admiration for his talent and that he was able to triumph over tragedy on so many occasions in his life. Michael was a giant and a legend in the music industry. And we mourn with the millions of fans worldwide," Robinson said, relaying Mandela's message.
The public memorial began after Jackson's family and closest friends attended a gathering at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills on Tuesday morning.Jackson's family and friends were at the chapel, which can hold about 1,000 people.An army of fans poured into Los Angeles from places far-flung, hoping to collectively mourn their idol in a massive ceremony.Police put up concrete barriers around the center, allowing only fans with tickets to the star-studded event to enter.The total cost for security at the event is estimated to be between $2 million and $4 million, said Matt Szabo, spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.The city, in the midst of a budget crisis, will foot the bill, Councilwoman Jan Perry said last week.Until the last minute, the Jackson family remained tight-lipped about where the singer will be buried, but signs pointed to Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills after several carloads of people, La Toya Jackson among them, visited the cemetery Monday.Actress Elizabeth Taylor, a longtime Jackson friend, and Debbie Rowe, Jackson's former wife and the mother of his two older children, both said they would not be attending.Fans congregated in downtown Los Angeles, outside the Staples Center regardless of whether they had tickets.On Monday, organizers used a computer to choose 8,750 names from 1.6 million people who registered for tickets online. Each received a pair of tickets, for a total of 17,500 tickets. Wolf Hudson (gay porn star and new director for CockyBoys.com shows the ticket he got from being picked in the lottery)
Just 11,000 of those are for seats inside the arena. The other 6,500 are for viewing the memorial telecast across the street at the Nokia Theater. The Jackson family set aside an additional 9,000 Staples Center seats to give out, organizers said.
May 15 marked a loss of profound proportions for the civil rights community, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, and the HIV/AIDS movements community. Rodger McFarlane, an early advocate, activist and strategist for the gay community, took his own life in Truth and Consequences, New Mexico, last Friday after battling compounding heart and back problems that were resulting in almost total debilitation GLAAD shared this statement issued by the friends and family of Denver-based civil rights and HIV/AIDS advocate, Rodger McFarlane.
New York, Monday, May 18, 2009 – It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of our friend, colleague, and hero, Rodger McFarlane. A pioneer and legend in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights and HIV/AIDS movements, Rodger took his own life in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico last Friday. In a letter found with his remains, Rodger explained that he was unwilling to allow compounding heart and back problems to become even worse and result in total debilitation. We know that Rodger was in a great deal of pain. Already disabled in his own mind, he could no longer work out or do all the outdoor activities he so loved. He was also now faced with the realization that he could literally not travel, making employment increasingly difficult. As his friends and family, we thought it was important that we communicate to the world that it has lost an amazingly wonderful individual who contributed so mightily to our humanity.Rodger approached every aspect of his life with boundless passion and vigor. While many people go their entire lives wanting to be good at just one thing, Rodger excelled at virtually everything he did. Brilliant activist and strategist, decorated veteran, accomplished athlete, best-selling author, and humanitarian are just a few of the accolades that could be used to describe our friend. To know Rodger was to love an irreverent, wise-cracking Southerner who hardly completed a sentence that didn’t include some kind of four-letter expletive. He fought the right fight every day, was intolerant of silence, and organized whole communities of people to advocate for justice. These were traits that endeared him to us and are traits that make his legacy incredibly rich and powerful.The power of Rodger’s many personal and professional accomplishments cannot be denied. He was on the forefront of responding to the AIDS epidemic that ravaged our country – and specifically the gay community – in the 1980’s. Before HIV even had a name, in 1981, Rodger set up the very first hotline anywhere; he just set it up on his own phone. That was the Rodger we knew. A born strategist and leader, Rodger took three organizations in their infancy and grew each into a powerhouse in its own way, empowered to tackle this national tragedy.One of the original volunteers and the first paid executive director of Gay Men’s Health Crisis, the nation’s first and largest provider of AIDS client services and public education programs, Rodger increased the organization's fundraising from a few thousand dollars to the $25 million agency it is today. Until his death, he was the president emeritus of Bailey House, the nation's first and largest provider of supportive housing for homeless people with HIV.From 1989 to 1994, he was executive director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (BC/EFA), merging two small industry-based fundraising groups into one of America's most successful and influential AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. During his tenure at BC/EFA, annual revenue increased from less than $1 million to more than $5 million, while also leveraging an additional $40 million annually through strategic alliances with other funders and corporate partnerships. Rodger was also a founding member of ACT UP – NY, the now legendary protest group responsible for sweeping changes to public policy as well as drug treatment and delivery processes.Most recently, Rodger served as the executive director of the Gill Foundation, one of the nation’s largest funders of programs advocating for LGBT equality. He transformed the Foundation by sharpening its strategic purpose. He focused its philanthropy in the states, aligned its investment with political imperatives and forged relationships with straight allies that helped to further both the LGBT movement as well as the greater progressive movement. Rodger was instrumental in the creation of the Gill Foundation’s sister organization, Gill Action. The brilliance of Rodger’s vision is being seen today as important protections for LGBT people become a reality in more and more states.No one will ever doubt that our friend Rodger lived a rich and complete life. A proud U.S. Navy veteran, Rodger was a licensed nuclear engineer who conducted strategic missions in the North Atlantic and far Arctic regions aboard a fast attack submarine. A gifted athlete, he was a veteran of seven over-ice expeditions to the North Pole. He also competed internationally for many years as an elite tri-athlete, and in 1998 and 2002, competed in the Eco-Challenges in Morocco and Fiji, where he captained an all-gay female-majority team.In spite of the fact that Rodger never completed college, he was an accomplished and best-selling author and the producer of works for the stage. Rodger was the co-author of several books, including The Complete Bedside Companion: No Nonsense Advice on Caring for the Seriously Ill (Simon & Schuster, 1998), and most recently, Larry Kramer’s The Tragedy of Today’s Gays (Penguin, 2005). In 1993, he co-produced the Pulitzer Prize-nominated production of Larry Kramer’s The Destiny of Me, the sequel to The Normal Heart.Rodger had a reputation as a hard-ass. That reputation didn’t do him justice. Many of us will remember Rodger as a caregiver, a man who nursed countless friends and family members battling cancer and AIDS. He was the most compassionate and giving of friends, especially to those in physical or emotional distress.His many achievements were recognized throughout his life. Most recently, he had received the Patient Advocacy Award from the American Psychiatric Association. Other honors included the New York City Distinguished Service Award, the Presidential Voluntary Action Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award, and the Emery Award from the Hetrick Martin Institute, as well as Tony and Drama Desk honors.How do you sum up someone’s life in just a few words? It’s impossible and you can’t. To commemorate Rodger’s life, his friends will organize celebrations of his, the details of which are still in the planning stages. If Rodger was anything, he was a character through and through; there are, quite literally, thousands of “Rodger stories.” That’s part of what made him such a special person. During our celebrations, we’ll share some of these stories and reflect on the many legacies left by our friend for life, Rodger McFarlane.Information on donations in memorial will also be forthcoming.
Michael Jackson's daughter Paris Katherine addressed mourners at the Staples Center Tuesday, tearfully telling them her father was "the best father you could ever imagine."
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May 15 marked a loss of profound proportions for the civil rights community, the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender community, and the HIV/AIDS movements community. Rodger McFarlane, an early advocate, activist and strategist for the gay community, took his own life in Truth and Consequences, New Mexico, last Friday after battling compounding heart and back problems that were resulting in almost total debilitation 
