Saturday, March 6, 2010

NOH8, folks! Time to represent.

Dasha Snyder's NOH8 photo by Adam Bouska

We've come a long way since I last posted, as a movement and personally. The Prop 8 Trial is nearing completion in the Ninth Circuit, Washington D.C. is issuing same sex marriage certificates and my wife and I have moved back to the East Coast, where I'm eagerly pursuing a masters in Queer Media Advocacy, hoping to change the world through the sites and sounds we imbibe.

In my journalism class, where we were hotly debating our own responsibility as minorities to represent our respective peoples, my classmates basically threw up their hands in disgust and surrender, saying there's no way to fight mass media's marginalization. I begged to differ. I was shouted down. But I still get out and about and do things like Abam Bouska's NOH8 Campaign photo shoot, which recently made it to NYC. When people criticized my film The D Word for not representing them (just as I criticized The L Word for not representing me), I encouraged them to pick up a camera and document their world, just like I had. If you can make them think while they're laughing, all the better. Just don't sit on your a** and complain fatalistically in a classroom. DO SOMETHING. Represent, people.