The Rise Up and Resist collection is a charity collection to celebrate Pride Month and give a special focus to some LGBTQ+ activists and events that created change and paved the way for rights and equality.
🧱 Brick by Brick (Stonewall Uprising) 🧱
This is a brick red pearlescent polish with red/orange micro flakes.
Brick by Brick is inspired by the Stonewall Uprising. The Stonewall Uprising was a series of protests that began on June 28, 1969 with the raid on Stonewall Inn. The LGBTQ+ community grew tired of the constant harassment and fought back by resisting and rising up to protest. They not only threw trash, coins, stones, and bricks, but this was figuratively the first brick that paved the way for more activism and rising up to resist the oppression the LGBTQ+ community was facing.
The Uprising is often referred to as riots, but many of the activists involved prefer to call it an uprising or revolution, as riot gives it a negative connotation. This was a positive and pivotal moment in initiating necessary change for civil rights and equalities that the LGBTQ+ community needed, so I also prefer to refer to it as an Uprising.
🔥 Revolutionary Street Queen (Sylvia Rivera) 🔥
This is a warm orange pearlescent polish with gold/orange micro flakes.
Revolutionary Street Queen is inspired by Sylvia Rivera. She was a latina transgender activist who began her activism by participating in the initial Stonewall Uprising protest at the raid on Stonewall Inn. Sylvia preferred to call it the revolution, as she, among many others were fueled by the Uprising to take a stronger activism role and create change. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. She also co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with her friend, Marsha P Johnson, to help homeless transgender youth and sex workers in Manhattan. Sylvia left home at 10 yrs old because her family rejected her gender expression. She lived on the streets and found a new family in the older drag queens/street queens that took her in. This gave her inspiration to help others and protest for change.
🌻 Pay it no mind (Marsha P Johnson) 🌻
This is a soft golden yellow pearlescent polish with yellow/green/red micro flakes.
Pay it no mind is inspired by Marsha P Johnson. She was a black trans woman and rights activist. She adopted the phrase "Pay it no mind" for her middle initial, P, as a statement and response to people questioning about her gender because it doesn't matter and they should pay it no mind. She participated in Stonewall Uprising, beginning with a strong position in the protest and pushback at the raid on Stonewall Inn, and was a prominent figure in the full span of the uprising. She was active in the Gay Activists Alliance, Gay Liberation Front, and also co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with her friend, Sylvia Rivera. Later on she joined in activities to advocate for AIDS related healthcare reform, as well as performing in theatrical works to bring attention to the topics.
☘️ SUPERvisor of Hope (Harvey Milk) ☘️
This is a medium sage green pearlescent polish with green/gold micro flakes.
SUPERvisor of Hope is inspired by Harvey Milk, who is known for his hope speech, famously stating you have to give them hope. When he moved to CA in 1972 he was a small business owner and created the Castro Village Association to bring together other LGBTQ+ businesses to fight hostility from established city businesses. With this he was dubbed the "Mayor of Castro Street" giving a safe space and voice to the LGBTQ+ community even prior to his winning bid for Supervisor. In 1977 Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on sexual orientation in public accommodations, housing, and employment. The supervisors passed the bill by a vote of 11–1 and the mayor signed it into law during the spring of 1978. This helped give hope, which was always Harvey's goal. Unfortunately he, and the mayor, were assassinated in November of 1978 by the man that cast the sole vote opposing the bill. Harvey's hope speech lives on and still helps bring hope to all.
🧥 Gay is Good (Barbara Gittings) 🧥
This is a rich royal blue pearlescent polish with blue/teal micro flakes.
Gay is Good is inspired by Barbara Gittings. She was a huge rights activist, taking part of many rights activism organizations. She founded the NY chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. She also was an editor for their magazine, The Ladder, but was let go after she refused to be as conservative as The Ladder wanted to be. In Nov 1967 Barbara and her friend, Frank Kameny, were co-counsels in a Dept of Defense hearing, but neither were lawyers. Barbara and Frank dressed conservatively, but wore pins that said "Gay is Good" to make a statement. They fought to discredit an expert witness that was testifying that homosexual people can be converted into heterosexuals. After their cross examination the expert witness was removed from the list of expert witnesses.
Later on, in 1972 Barbara arranged a discussion with the American Psychiatry Association to talk about homosexuality in psychiatry and fight to get it removed as a mental illness diagnosis. The following year, in 1973 homosexuality was removed as a mental illness diagnosis from the Diagnosistic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness.
💟 Matriarch of Marriage (Edie Windsor) 💟
This is a deeper purple, with a hint of plum, pearlescent polish with purple/magenta micro flakes.
Matriarch of Marriage is inspired by Edie Windsor. She was a rights activist that was in several rights and advocacy groups. In 1965 she began dating, and fell in love, with Thea Spyer. They lived as a married couple even though law prevented a legal marriage. In 1993 they registered as a domestic partnership the day it became available. As Thea's health declined they went to Canada in 2007 to get married, as it still was not legal in the US.
Thea passed away in 2009, leaving Edie the sole beneficiary of her estate. Since their marriage was not recognized in the US she was not eligible for the unlimited spousal deduction and had to pay $363,053 in federal estate taxes. She tried to file for the surviving spouse exemption but the IRS denied it under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which stated spouse only applied to marriage between a man and a woman. In 2010 she sued the federal government to pursue a refund of the taxes paid. In 2013 she won her argument and section 3 of DOMA was deemed unconstitutional, providing her a refund of taxes paid. This was a landmark win and paved the way for same sex marriage to be legally recognized, making her the matriarch of same-sex marriage.
Charity Details
$5.00 of each bottle will be donated to PROMO Missouri, which is a public policy and advocacy organization in MO that helps fight for rights and equality in the legal system today.
You can learn more, or donate directly, at https://promomissouri.org/
Directions: Apply 2-3 coats, although some may be full coverage in 1-2 coats. For best results we recommend using 1 coat of Clearly Celestial Top Coat or Flash Freeze Top Coat. Use your favorite base coat, or choose one of our many different base coats, to use under the polish.
