Artifact 3, NOH8 continued « kellydarling7

In my previous post, I wrote about a specific campaign that I love which was NOH8.  Unexpectedly, the NOH8 campaign came to Illinois State and I received a first hand look at a social movement in action and it really effected me. I saw everything from leadership to mobilization to even accomplishments that NOH8 has made.
In this artifact, I would like to focus on the leadership aspect that I viewed, in relation to what I have learned this semester.  The founder of NOH8 (Adam Bouska) and Cofounder (Jeff Parshley) were very inspirational and played the role of leaders of this campaign perfectly.  They started out describing how they felt opressed by Prop 8 which was passed in California that made gay marriage illegal.  After attending a protest rally,  they fully felt that they were being discriminated against when they did nothing, but love another human being which happened to be a man. This begs the question, is love a crime?  As I said in my last blog, this definitely a self directed movement.  Adam and Jeff realized that not just themselves, but many others were being oppressed and victims and that change needed to happen.
As Chapter 5 in our Tools for Radical Democracy book states, to make leadership an ongoing process, you must share power and leaders get recognition.  In the NOH8 movement, Adam and Jeff share different roles and get different things done.  Adam seemed like the quiet leader of the two. Although he seemed quiet, he did not mind speaking to people about the issue of gay rights.  Adam seemed to express himself through his photography and the way he connected with people while taking their pictures for the campaign.  Jeff was the more outspoken of the two.  While speaking to us, you could hear the passion in his voice that showed he really cared about this issue and the people effected by it.  He also had us do a chant similar to one they chanted at their rally which helped to motivate everyone.
Also in Chapter 5 of our book, it says that leaders have a "range of skills."  As I have shown, Adam and Jeff encompass all of the traits that leaders need to be successful.  Together, they are very diverse, and these traits help them to reach out to others which builds them a following.  As Jeff said in the presentation, once you have a following, those people tell their friends and so on, so that others become active in their campaign as well. Below is a picture of myself with Adam at the campaign meeting!

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