Journalist Lisa Ling is one of the famous faces featured in the NOH8 photo campaign.
(Photo by Adam Bouska)

Adam Bouska and Jeff Parshley started the NOH8 campaign in November 2008 after California passed Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. At the campaign's core is a collection of portraits of celebrities and non-celebrities with duct tape over their mouths, which Bouska said represents how supporters of marriage equality were silenced during the election.

Subjects are photographed in white shirts which Bouska said, "is just a way of keeping it all simple. It gives you a chance to look at the person in the eyes while having NOH8 written on their face, so you can actually see who is being discriminated against and who supports our cause."

The campaign has grown to include over 1,500 photos taken by Bouska and Parshley and over 1,300 photos submitted by supporters around the world.

"It just started with a photo, with one photo, and then we did photos for our friends so they could get the message out to their friends, and then their friends, and their friends, and then it gradually just stared getting bigger and bigger," said Parshley.

Today the campaign includes the likes of Kathy Griffin, Dr. Drew, Fran Drescher, Gloria Allred, Lisa Ling, and Perez Hilton with new faces being added all the time.

View the slideshow below to catch a glimpse of some of the NOH8 campaign's photographs.

"We're going to do it as long as we have to, pretty much. We aren't going to stop anytime soon, until everyone has equal rights," said Parshley.

In addition to faces from the generally liberal Hollywood scene, Bouska and Parshley said there have been a few participants that they would not have expected, including Meghan McCain, daughter of Republican Senator John McCain. "She was extremely supportive of equal rights and she was all about it," said Bouska.

Isaiah Washington, who was famously slammed for using a homophobic slur on the set of "Grey's Anatomy," has also lent his image to the campaign. Of any potential qualms about Washington's inclusion Parshley said, "Because we include people in the campaign it doesn't mean that we necessarily agree with all the choices they make in their own personal lives. If they support the cause and they support what we are fighting for and they are going to help us get our message out we are happy to have them."

Bouska and Parshley have taken full advantage of social networking sites as a grassroots-organizing tool.

"There are millions and millions of people on these networking sites and for what we are doing it is easy for a lot of people to see it. We can get it to people in Brazil, we can get it to people in Australia," said Parshley. They have also used Twitter extensively both to spread the word about the campaign and to reach out to potential celebrity participants in a medium that makes them more accessible than ever before.

"Once we saw Twitter and we saw that celebrities were kind of the pull there we hopped on that early," said Bouska.

Photo submissions are accepted via their website and Bouska and Parshley are eager to get as many people as possible involved.

"Obviously we can't photograph everyone in the world as much as we would like to have them be part of the campaign, so we would like to motivate other people to go out and start movements in their areas and kind of bring the same message and spread it along," said Bouska.

Bouska said that he enjoys seeing how people take the concept and put their own creative spin on it. "There have been a lot of elderly people who have submitted photos and that has been kind of moving because a lot of them haven't been able to make it out to a shoot. A lot of kids will also make photos, not necessarily being able to tell their parents that they want to go to this photo shoot, and they make them themselves and submit them with their own stories," said Bouska.

Bouska and Parshley are eager to expand the campaign in order to reach an international audience with their message. People in countries like South Africa, Brazil, Canada and Australia have written to them to express their interest in starting versions of the campaign in their own countries, something they fully support.

"This is a world issue, it's a world cause. It's not just something that pertains to California. The fact that this can happen in liberal California just shows that it can happen anywhere and probably a lot easier. So we are going to use that as evidence and take that around to educate people that ignorance still exists everywhere," said Bouska.

As the campaign grows and gains notoriety Bouska and Parshley are setting their sights high with a wish list that includes President Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Al Sharpton, and the Dixie Chicks, but they also want to encourage everyday people to join the movement and spread the word.

"Every face counts. It is definitely a glamour campaign. It makes everyone look good and there are a lot of celebrities involved, but the focus is still on the cause and that is the important thing." said Bouska.

The campaign periodically holds open photo shoots for those who want their faces in the campaign. For more information about the campaign and upcoming events, visit their Web site at http://www.noh8campaign.com.

Read more on Neon Tommy:

Gay Marriage Faces Unclear Future After Calif. Passes Prop 8

Gay Marriage Fight Returns To California