LGBTQ event at the Houses of Parliament exhibits Sam Bradley’s photos for Kiss With Pride

An exhibition of photographs by Sam Bradley for Absolut’s Kiss With Pride campaign are being exhibited at the Houses of Parliament to mark the 50th anniversary of the amendment of the Sexual Offences Act in 1967. This change saw same-sex activity partially decriminalised in England and Wales, but the campaign also hopes to draw attention to the fact same-sex activity is still illegal in 72 countries.

On show was a poster series from Absolut’s Kiss With Pride campaign by BBH, photographed by Sam Bradley, depicting individuals from many of those 72 countries sharing a same-sex kiss. These images will be rolled out globally on the anniversary today (27 July 2017) in ads across national news and consumer lifestyle magazines.

The launch event last night at the House of Commons, hosted by Absolut, Gay Times and LGBTQ rights campaign organisation Stonewall, also featured speeches by the Lord Speaker, a long-time advocate of LGBTQ rights, and Niranjan Kamatkar, artistic director of the LGBT Arts Festival.

Sam Bradley commented: “I was drawn to the Kiss With Pride campaign because the idea was so pure. I knew I had to be involved, it’s quite rare for advertising to be for a cause without it feeling disingenuous. This felt absolutely natural and true. The more people that see these images the better. And not just in progressive cities like London and New York. I would really like the images to reach people outside of that bubble and to start a constructive conversation.”

Absolut has a long history of supporting LGBTQ rights for the past 30 years, and recently also released a film titled Equal Love directed by Aoife McArdle with BBH (below).

The posters will also be exhibited at Protein Gallery, Shoreditch from 4-6 August 2017.