How did the project come about?

For the best explanation, we invite you to watch iO's TED talk, but in a nutshell: In 2010, stunned by the Prop 8 debacle, iO started to ponder where the real disconnect was between gay Americans and those voting against them, and he decided it was an issue of fear. Unfamiliar with the realities of gay life, and bombarded with misinformation, conservative voters are misinformed about what it means to be gay, so she decided to introduce people to each-other. Hence, the portrait project was born.