“On November 4th, 2008 Proposition 8 passed, amending the state Constitution to ban same-sex marriage.
In the wake of the defeat, there has been a groundswell of initiative from within the community at grassroots level. Seizing this opportunity, new political and protest organizatitions are forming almost daily. The NOH8 Campaign is a photo project & silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley in direct reponse to the passage of Proposition 8.
The campaign started with portraits of everyday Californians who support Marriage Equality and soon rose to celebrities, military personnel, brothers & sisters, law enforcement, lesbian mothers, directors, politicians, newlyweds, and more, Photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths symbolizing their voices not being heard and NOH8 painted on one cheek in protest. “
(from the NO H8 campaign website, www.noh8campaign.com)
As residents of SL™ and as individual human beings, we have the right to a voice. In Second Life™ we can be partnered to whoever we choose, male or female. And yet we are all from different countries, some of us are from places where same-sex marriage is legal. Others are from districts where even civil unions don’t exist as an option. The thing we all have in common is that we care about everyone having equal rights, and everyone is willing to come together for it. The NO H8 campaign in SL™ is a way for us to say “Hey, we want our voices to be heard.”
The response so far has been absolutely overwhelming. People from all over the world have placed duct tape over their mouths and placed NOH8 on their pixel faces in protest of Proposition 8. A lot of the photos can be seen in the Flickr group, and the official NOH8 website has dedicated a section to the SL photos as well. (Links in the sidebar)
