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XXL Launch Review
25 May 2009
On May 17th, at XXL Club A Day In Hand had its official launch.
This was also part of IDAHO (International Day Against Homophobia &
Transphobia). You can find mention of this campaign on the IDAHO media report of the day. Pretty impressive that A Day In Hand featured on page 4 of the official report, given the number of events that were going on around the world that day.
Photo by MazImage.com
For more fantastic launch pics click here.
A trusty band of volunteers helped set-up the show: hanging pictures, tying back the banner, meeting and greeting - thanks to everyone involved.
The bar was open, and spirts were high for the start of the revolution. As guests streamed in to see some of the fantastic photography on display, I sensed something powerful had begun. Funky tunes guided people around the exhibits. Guests were encouraged to adopt a photo and become agents of change, by finding homes for the pictures on display. Friends and couples clasped hands during the show, and afterwards as they left. A few straight friends even took the Elvis challenge and walked a mile in our shoes, holding hands with someone of the same gender on their way home.
Photos below by Colum LaVelle Photography and more here.
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David kicked off the show and introduced the campaign and was followed
by several key speakers, Sue Sanders and Tony Fenwick (co-chairs Schools Out/LGBT History Month), Derek Lennard (IDAHO - UK), Dean Atta, Sarah Humphreys from ELOP, Mark Jennett, Elly Barnes and Rev. Macaulay. Click here for an interview with David Watkins and Dean Atta, recorded at the launch. |
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Many
of the photos that didn't make it into full sized posters were
projected onto the huge whitescreen with the stories of the hand
holders and their locations. Of particular interest were the photographs from Lima, in Peru. A Day In Hand project is going from strength to strength in South America with photos from different regions flooding in - see here. We also showed the pic of David and Peter Tatchell taken just 2 days before Peter's arrest in Moscow at Slavic Pride. In solidarity Peter!
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David looks on - pretty much astounded and grateful that any of this has actually occured. David comments "A Day In Hand had arrived and as I sit here I'm accutely aware of the potential of the campaign and the power of its supporters". 3 months after its inception in Feb 2009, A Day In Hand is already in over 15 countries worldwide, featured in hundreds of blogs and websites, with events already being planned by many international organisations. David adds, "I think I can say that same-sex hand holding is going to be big in 2010!"
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The lovely Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence: House of Common Sluts, indulged us, and engaged the crowds to riotious applause. Click here for more Common Sluts pictures.
The sisters adopted a photo at the exhibition of their fellow sisters - Sister Unity Divine and Sister Erotica Pyschotica taken in San Francisco at Easter in the Park, a anniversary celebration marking the founding of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence in 1979. You too can adopt a photo by going here.
Thanks Sisters! I predict more work to be done between A Day In Hand and the House of Common Sluts.
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Toward the end we all popped outside for a mass hand holding picture (see top of page). I ended up holding Genie the dog's, paw, but hey's its an inclusive campaign.
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