Hey guys, the gallery opening date has been set! It’s tomorrow, July 7th, 2009 at 2PM PDT. The link will be given out on the blog right before the opening, so please stay tuned!
Almost 350 pics will be showcased at the gallery tomorrow, will yours be there?

http://noh8sl.com/

All the photos will be available there, and photo downloads will be available on this website shortly after. Please feel free to take the poster and distribute it to as many people as you can, repost it on your blogs. You can even drop me an IM inworld and I will pass one to you!

“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 response 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.

http://www.flickr.com/groups/noh8onsl/pool/
(Currently 501 members and 441 items YAY!)

Please come out and show your support to this amazing cause! I will be there and I personally hope to see you there!

There will be photobooths available for people who haven't taken their NOH8 pic yet, so bring lots of friends please! Get in there and take some snaps of yourself and friends!

After you visit the gallery any feedback would be greatly appreciated! Please send Trace Osterham a notecard or email me at information@noh8sl.com, and tell me how this campaign impacted you, or what this means to you! The stories will be posted on the website, so please specify if you would like your name attached or if you want it to be anonymous.

P.S. If you have any questions, you can Trace Trace Osterham inworld or information@noh8sl.com

P.P.S. If you would be willing to donate poses for the photobooths, please IM Trace Trace Osterham Thanks!

On a personal note I would love to send out a massive heartfelt thank you to Trace for all his blood, sweat and tears on this project. He has worked his butt off and I just want you to know, that we all thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Every action in our lives touches on some chord that will vibrate in eternity. ~Edwin Hubbel Chapin

Thank you Trace xoxo