My good Judy Drama Dupree hit me up online with this “GA VOICE” cover shot featuring the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in a NOH8 campaign pose.
In case you don’t know, the NOH8 campaign is a photographic silent protest created by celebrity photographer Adam Bouska and partner Jeff Parshley in response to the passage of Proposition 8. Photos feature subjects with duct tape over their mouths, symbolizing their voices being silenced by Prop 8 and similar legislation around the world, with “NOH8” painted on one cheek in protest.
When I first saw the image I was set aback and I don’t know why. It didn’t “offend” me but it did make me feel “some kinda way”.
Although Dr. King stood for non-violent protests during the civil rights movement, he never addressed issues of homosexuality in any of his speeches. The fact that King never left any conclusive indication of his opinion on homosexuality has often left many wandering as to what King’s views on the issue of Gay rights would have been today.
Over the years, the King family has been divided in their views of homosexuality and gay marriage. While King’s late wife Coretta Scott-King supported gay marriage publicly and was even a speaker at a 1996 Gay Pride festival in Atlanta, another family member publicly campaigned against it, even going so far as to call gay marriage ‘genocide’.
I personally believe that King would have spoken against any issues of discrimination. Whether it be racial or gender related seems irrelevant. But… (and there is a “BUT”) since he’s not alive to confirm his opinions either way, should we really be making assumptions?
Related:
Atlanta Housewives & More Support NOH8 Campaign… [PHOTOS]
Kim Zolciak’s Wig, Mouth & Nipples Pose for NOH8
Kandi Burruss “Fights” for NOH8… [PHOTO]
More NOH8 Campaign Flix ~ Dwight Eubanks, Sheree Whitfield & Rasheeda