It is Pride month and in recognition of this very happy time – we are going to reflect on how far we have come as a Scottish nation! Less than ten years ago, Equal Marriage was passed into law. People from all walks of life had their love and their identity legally recognised by the Scottish Government. It ages us as a company to say that we worked on a campaign before marriage equality was legal – but we will always be exceptionally proud of the stories we were able to tell in the campaign commissioned by The Equality Network:
The shoot took 30 days and we travelled all over Scotland, telling stories from all walks of life. We were also thrilled to get the voice of public figures behind the campaign; Brian Cox, Alan Cumming, Lorraine Kelly, Sharleen Spiteri, The Proclaimers, Hardeep Singh Kohli, Sylvester McCoy, Billy Boyd and the leaders of Scotlands main political parties. Interspersing these larger than life figures with members of the public meant we could broaden our audience and achieve a sense of familiarity within our campaign. You can check out what The Equality Network had to say about our filming below:
As well as the main film, broadcast online and on TV we produced short interviews with everyone involved which we drip-fed on the Equality Network YouTube page. Below you can check out First Minister Nicola Sturgeon speak about her pride at passing the Equal Marriage act.
We have worked with the Equality Network on a number of other campaigns. Below you can check out a short overview of our coverage of the Pride Awards:
Although it is important to celebrate social acceptance, we have also filmed training videos for law enforcement about the correct way to process someone who is transgender. The Scottish Prison Service recognise that there is a difference between your birth gender and your social gender. Birth gender is the gender you were born with – whereas social gender is the gender you have been living in in the community. A transgender person will be searched and allocated based on their social gender. This means that they are identified by their current name, that their correct pronouns are used and that their previous history is treated confidentially and with sensitivity.
It is important that we recognise gender and sexual diversity – not just in parades and ad campaigns, but even in the harsher areas of our society. Acceptance and empathy should be our default setting, no matter the circumstances. The work we did for the Equality Network is so important because it highlights that even if someone is being searched by police, or going to prison – their gender identity is important and will be respected. We think it is an extremely impactful campaign and we want to personally thank everyone who trusted us with their stories.
Once again, we want to wish everyone a Happy Pride Month! Here is to many, many more.
