NOH8 Campaign lenses Pride in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX) -- The co-founders of the NOH8 Campaign came to Westfield San Francisco Centre on Sunday to give people the chance to get a free photograph in the style of the iconic image they created in 2008 as a silent protest to the ban on same-sex marriage in California.
"This Pride month we want to celebrate our diversity," said Adam Bouska, photographer and NOH8 Campaign co-founder. "We're all different for so many different reasons and that should be celebrated."
Bouska and his partner Jeff Parshley, a co-founder of the campaign, are traveling across the country to give more people the chance to get the NOH8 photo treatment just as tens of thousands have for more than a decade. Years later, same-sex marriage is legal but both Bouska and Parshley warn there are new threats to LGBT rights.
"We can't remain complacent in the fight for equality because, as soon as we do, our rights will be taken away right from under us," Parshley told KPIX.
"We're not prepared to let that happen and so we're going to keep uniting the community and fighting for our rights and protecting our rights."
The shopping mall invited the creators to celebrate Pride month and paid for the first group of visitors to get their photos taken Sunday afternoon. For Jonathan Bade, from Concord, it was his second time taking a NOH8 photo.
"Love is love and definitely just fighting for everyone's equality because, you know, I feel like everyone should be able to love who they want to love," Bade said.
Bade shares the concerns of the co-founders, who say their campaign was always meant to evolve to address the current challenges of all who are marginalized. They not only worry about anti-LGBT bills in state legislatures across the country but also possible action by the U.S. Supreme Court, including reversing the decision of Roe v. Wade and same-sex marriage.
"Essentially if one group's rights are under attack then all of our rights are under attack," Bouska said.
