Manchester Pride is Manchester’s annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) festival. This year, it takes place between Friday 20 and Monday 30 August. Over a ten day period the festival offers a wide range of events specifically designed to engage the LGBT community, their friends and families. Manchester Pride continues to raise money for LGBT and HIV organisations in the North West and is the only Pride event in the UK that has consistently done so – raising over £780,000 since 2003.
This year Manchester Pride is working alongside celebrity photographer Rachel Joseph to create a photographic exhibition based around a number of straight (or gay) celebrities who have gay relatives or friends. The shots, which boldly and proudly state “my brother/mother/friend is gay”, illustrate to parents, relatives, and friends the normality of being gay or having someone close to you that is gay. Manchester born Rachel Joseph has a reputation as one of the most recognisable fashion and celebrity lifestyle photographers, working on exclusive shoots at home and abroad.
This exciting new exhibition, which is the first of its kind in this country, will break down negative attitudes and encourage celebration of lesbian, gay and bisexual life through a set of portraits of well-known celebrities who people can easily identify with. From Kym Marsh to Michelle Keegan, Patsy Kensit to Marc Almond, the campaign is full of recognisable faces from our popular soaps, TV shows and music.