Protecting Our Rights

Some of the most poignant participation in our campaign has been by those people in the political arena; arguably risking their careers to stand up for those who are actively being discriminated against via legislation. In the midst of the ongoing legal battles on state and federal levels being championed by the LGBT community and their fight for equal rights, these politicians have stepped forward and bravely lent their support for the NOH8 Campaign.

These politicians are a great example of why it's so important for people to get out there and vote. Politicians and law makers are the people responsible for protecting you when it comes to creating and managing the rules and laws that govern our country and each of the citizens in it. Even more important than voting on the issues is voting for the people responsible for bringing those issues to the floor and representing you in our government!

We encourage everyone to take a moment to make sure they're registered to vote by checking out RockTheVote.com - it's completely free and takes MINUTES!

Leading our pack of political involvement is openly gay Republican Independent Fred Karger, who is currently traveling the country rallying support for his 2012 Presidential Run.

Politicians who have posed include Bevan Dufty (above right) - a former City Supervisor in San Francisco (Harvey Milk's elected position) currently running for Mayor - in addition to Mayor Sara Presler of Flagstaff, Arizona, Mayor Matti Bower of Miami Beach, FL, and Mayor Steve Pougnet of Palm Springs, CA.

The city of West Hollywood has also been extremely supportive of our campaign, going so far as to declare December 13th NOH8 Day in West Hollywood. Mayor John Duran is joined by Councilmembers Jeffrey Prang, Abbe Land, and former councilmember Lindsey Horvath.

During the NOH8 Campaign's trip to Washington, DC in September of 2010, Co-Founder Jeff Parshley reached out to First Lady Michelle Obama and invited her to participate in our shoot. We received the following response:

Dear Mr. Parshley,

Thank you for inviting the First Lady to be a VIP guest at the NOH8 Campaign open photo shoot.  We regret that the date passed before we were able to respond. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.

The First Lady sends her best wishes and hopes that you continue to work with those close to you to strengthen your community and our country.

Sincerely,

The Scheduling Department of First Lady Michelle Obama

Our most notable political involvement to date has been Republican Cindy McCain, wife of former Presidential Candidate Senator John McCain of Arizona, as well as daughter Meghan McCain. Both Cindy and Meghan participated in our Anti-Bullying PSAs earlier this year.

We hope these participants are just the first of many politicians to join the campaign. Their support is so incredibly important to the work that our community is doing, and their bravery in doing these photos speaks so loudly to their communities. Keep up the great work!