Diversity Rules Magazine

Eight of America's leading fitness photographers have joined forces on "Flex Your Vote," a new cam- paign that aims to encourage the LGBTQ community and its allies to the polls this November. "It's pain- fully clear why this is the most important me in our life mes to vote," says Mike Ruiz, the campaign's organizer. "We are being engulfed by a pandemic, millions are unemployed, the government is riddled with corrup on. We need to change the direc on of this country or we are headed towards a dictatorship where we will be stripped of our rights. Ruiz was ini ally inspired into ac on when it came to his a en on that many of the American fitness mod- els that he helped to make famous were suppor ng policies that directly undermined his liber es. He reached out to his photographer colleagues in the fitness industry — Pat Lee, Ulrich Oehman, Jorge Freire, Abel Cruz, Eric Wainwright, Allan Spiers and Michael Downs — for ideas on how they could effec- tuate change somehow. Collec vely, they concluded that rather than try to change the minds of the in- doctrinated, they would try to inspire the LGBTQA+ community to register and then vote in the upcom- ing elec on. "1 in 5 LGBTQA+ people are not registered to vote," Mike Ruiz explains. Eric Wainwright devised the "Flex Your Vote" slogan and the campaign was born. In it, the eight photog- raphers are pos ng images to their Instagram and Facebook accounts and encouraging fans to share them with the hashtag @flexyourvote. "I've made three posts so far and have had six people reach out to me telling me that they registered to vote as a re- sult of seeing my posts," Mike con nues. With thousands of shares and reposts, they are hop- ing to mo vate the 20% of the LGBTQ community that isn't registered to vote to do so. "It's going to take every single person vo ng to not only send Trump away, but to send a clear message that we repudiate everything he stands for," adds model Eric Turner who is featured in the campaign. "If this is a way to encourage people to stand up and par cipate in that, I'm all about it!" "Truth and empathy are on the ballot, and this may be the most consequen al elec on in our life mes," says photographer Pat Lee. More Flex Your Vote photos on page 10! Flex Your Vote Mike Ruiz and Fitness Photographers Urge the LGBTQ Community to Flex Its Vote 4 | Diversity Rules Magazine | Aug 2020 Eric Turner

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