Instagram apologises after removing photo of gay couple kissing

The photo does not violate any of Instagram's community guidelines

Instagram apologised after removing the photo (Instagram @stellaasiaconsonni)

A photographer has criticised Instagram after it removed a photo she’d taken of two men kissing because it violated “community guidelines.”

Stella Asia Consonni shot the photo of Jordan Bowen and Luca Lucifer as part of her project “Love Me,” which explores modern couples.

But just a day after, Consonni received a message from Instagram informing her they’d removed the photo.

In addition to removing her picture, Instagram warned Consonni “If you violate our guidelines again, your account may be restricted or disabled… We want to keep Instagram a safe place for everyone.”

Confused over which guidelines she may have violated, Consonni read every single one the social media platform has listed - and concluded that her picture abided by the no nudity, spam, illegal activity, and violence guidelines.

“There was no unblurred nipples, no sex, no ‘close-ups of fully-nude buttocks,’” she told Vice.

Angry over the situation, her main concern, however, was how Bowen and Lucifer would feel.

“When I found out that it was removed I was outraged and angry,” she told Newsweek. “My thoughts went straight to Jordan and Luca that posed for the image, I could only imagine how they would feel.”

The removal prompted a series of people in the LGBT community to publicly question Instagram’s decision - including Bowen, who is pictured in the photo with his boyfriend of seven years.

Instagram claimed the photo violated guidelines (Instagram @stellaasiaconsonni)

Uploading the photo on his own Instagram, he wrote: “My relationship of seven years with @Iamlucalucifer reduced to a Community Guideline.

“@Instagram spoon-feeds us with rainbows and hashtags to appear in solidarity but it seems real people in love have no place here.”

Following the backlash, Instagram replaced the photo, which the social media app said was removed due to an “error” and issued a “brief apology” to the London-based photographer.

"No further explanation was given by Instagram," Consonni told The Independent.

The photo was removed a day after it was uploaded (Instagram @stellaasiaconsonni)

Despite Instagram’s apology, Consonni wrote that there “is still a long way to go to fight homophobia” on the social media platform, which has more than 800 million users.

"Since being reinserted, the image has gotten a great response, with many people sending lovely and supportive messages," she told us. "But I have also received some terrible comments" about the LGBT community.

"It's deeply saddening to see how much homophobia still exists," she continued.

Instagram issued a brief apology for the error (Instagram @stellaasiaconsonni)

As for the hundreds of supportive messages and comments Consonni has received, they have "certainly restored a little of my faith in humanity," she wrote on Instagram.