Since 2016 Brighton Gin has created a one-off, limited edition Pride label, with a proportion of each sale being donated to the Rainbow Fund each year.
THIS year, Brighton Gin has teamed up with Brighton based artist Hizze Fletcher-King to create a label to recognise the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots which mark the birth of the Gay Liberation Movement (GLM).
It features Marsha P. Johnson, LGBT activist of colour and self identified drag queen, who was a prominent figure in the 1969 Stonewall uprising, when New York police raided the Stonewall Inn and provoked the start of riots and demonstrations.
Brighton Gin’s founder, Kathy Caton said: “We’re proud to support our LGBT+ communities and give something back to the city which has taken us to its heart. And by featuring Marsha P. Johnson on the label, we hope people will ask more questions about who she was and the origins of the modern day LGBTQ movement.”
The label will be on a limited run of 500 bottles, each one capped off with a special gold wax top. A percentage of each bottle sold will go to the Rainbow Fund, the charity created as the legacy project for the Brighton AIDS Memorial in 2010 to give grants to LGBT/HIV organisations who deliver effective front line services to LGBT+ people in Brighton & Hove.
Label artist Hizze Fletcher-King said: “Women have continued to be erased from their historical importance and Marsha P Johnson stands for that. While we celebrate Pride and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots let’s remember that ‘Pride is a Protest’ which seems to have been forgotten.”
Through their Community Spirit initiative, Brighton Gin has supported dozens of charities across the city and beyond and is proud of the impact they’ve been able to have locally and across the UK.
The limited edition collectible Brighton Pride bottle is available direct from Brighton Gin’s website at brightongin.com, and when they’re gone, they’re gone!
“Now they got two little nice statues in Chariot Park to remember the gay movement. How many people have died for these two little statues to be put in the park for them to recognise gay people? How many years has it taken people to realise that we are all brothers and sisters and human beings in the human race? I mean how many years does it take people to see that we’re all in this rat race together!” Marsha P. Johnson 1992