Deep Reads: A gay uple ran a rtrant peace. Then new neighbors arrived. - The Washgton Post

Contents:

• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
• CONSERVATIVE NEIGHBOR TOSS AD RAT ON PROPERTY OF GAY UPLE’S RTRANT AMID FD
• REPUBLINS’ IRS ‘WHISTLEBLOWER X’ IS A GAY DEMOCRAT CRIMAL DIVISN WH 13 YEARS AT THE AGENCY
• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• GAY EATS: 9 LGBTQ RTRANTS SERVG UP DELECTABLE CULARY DELIGHTS PHOENIX, ARIZONA
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY
• GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI
• THE 10 BEST RTRANTS NEAR GAY HEAD
• GAY MOSW · CY GUI
• STILL HERE AND STILL QUEER: THE GAY RTRANT ENDUR

A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.

The bsman and his wife, Melissa, first plaed to the Front Porch proprietors about pre-dawn vendor liveri 2019, not long after the nservative Christian uple moved their fancial firm right next door to the rtrant, which fli a gay Pri flag. (Front Porch Market and Grill)What’s more, the Washers say, the ad rat was jt one more sult that the uple, who once planted an “all liv matter” sign their ont yard, have endured sce movg next door to a rtrant owned by a gay uple.

They married 2020, five years after they opened the Front Porch, which quickly beme a statn The Front Porch has been flyg a Pri flag on s pat sce 2016, not long after a gunman killed 49 people a gay bar Orlando. Waybourn was print of the Dallas Gay Alliance when sued Parkland Memorial Hospal for failg to provi readily available medic to AIDS patients. In 1991, he lnched the Gay and Lbian Victory Fund (now the LGBTQ+ Victory Fund) to elect openly gay policians to office.

He served as managg director of the Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or GLAAD, which he helped turn to a natnal group. He owned gay newspapers Hoton, Atlanta, New York and Washgton. “I had so many threats agast me that even the Dallas police statned squad rs outsi our home, ” Waybourn an activist, Waybourn says, his goals were clear: same-sex marriage, gays and lbians the ary, accs to lifavg medic.

CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER

To the activist, feels like a step backward after a lifetime of fightg for gay pack the seats at the Board of Zong Appeals hearg hosted at Grace Epispal Church. “I have que a few gay iends, clients and a fay member, and I have patronized a gay-owned rtrant for years, ” he whether the Washers are tryg to remake The Plas to their image of Ameri — Whe, nservative, Christian — Melissa said, “I n see where you’re g om. An entreprenr lnched a nned cktail this week lled “Gay Water” that’s aimed at LGBTQ drkers — and said he’s lookg to palize on Bud Light’s mistak.

CONSERVATIVE NEIGHBOR TOSS AD RAT ON PROPERTY OF GAY UPLE’S RTRANT AMID FD

But “Gay Water” — which adopts a moniker the gay muny has long given to the simple vodka and soda cktail — has been spired by the dtup to bee even bolr about the dience ’s targetg, founr and CEO Spencer Hodson told The Post. Gay Water — a nned cktail brand that plays on the gay muny’s lloquialism for the vodka-and-soda mixed drk — lnched on Wednday and promis to unrstand s dience better than Bud Light. The 30-year-old Hodson said he is g suggtive — albe playful — msagg and imagery Gay Water’s social media and webse, cludg a provotive nod to the 12-ounce n’s 6.

REPUBLINS’ IRS ‘WHISTLEBLOWER X’ IS A GAY DEMOCRAT CRIMAL DIVISN WH 13 YEARS AT THE AGENCY

“Our missn is to -stigmatize the word ‘gay’ and start to create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have queer-owned products, let alone products wh the word ‘gay’ their tle, ” Hodson told The Post. “When was the last time you saw the word gay at a rtrant, bar, liquor store, or grocery store? The word ‘gay’ origally was fed as happy, and we’re hopg to remd folks of that by beg prent, ” he add.

Founr Spencer Hodson, a gay man, says the brand is about reclaimg the word “gay” as a word that “jt means happy. Gay Water’s brandg is full of playful, suggtive msagg.

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

“Part of the pot of lnchg outsi of Pri month is to rerce the msage that Gay Water is here to make the LGBTQ+ muny more visible 365 days a year, not jt a sgle month, ” he said. Conservative neighbors were ught on secury mera tossg a ad rat onto the property of a gay uple’s ral Virgia rtrant amid an latn of a years-long spat.

The ad verm was found near the trash bs behd the rtrant, which fli a gay pri flag, last Augt. Gay uple William Waybourn and Craig Spldg operate the Front Porch Market and Grill The Plas, Virgia.

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

They first hoisted a pri flag on the rtrant pat 2016 the wake of shootg at an Orlando gay nightclub that killed 49 people. Waybourn has been an LGBTQ rights activist for s, risg to promence as print of the Dallas Gay Alliance when sued Parkland Memorial Hospal for failg to provi proper re for AIDS patients.

He served as managg director of now-natnal Gay & Lbian Alliance Agast Defamatn, or GLAAD, and has owned newspapers for the gay muny New York, Washgton, Atlanta and Hoton. Mike Washer ni the cint, sayg he has gay iends and fay members. Anonymo whistleblower, who prevly ttified before the Hoe Ways & Means Commtee last month, is expected to reveal his inty as a 13 year-special agent wh the IRS’ Crimal Invtigatn Divisn and as a "gay Democrat married to a man, " acrdg to his prepared ttimony obtaed by Fox News whistleblowers have alleged officials at the Jtice Department, FBI and IRS terfered the vtigatn to Hunter Bin and said cisns the se seemed to be "fluenced by polics.

GAY EATS: 9 LGBTQ RTRANTS SERVG UP DELECTABLE CULARY DELIGHTS PHOENIX, ARIZONA

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league, ” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out. In other words, where Bud Light has buckled unr prsure as bigotry grows agast the LGBTQ+ muny, Gay Water’s creator Spencer Hodson wants his new boozy brand to be the anthis of that.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

“The key issue that Bud Light tapped to was the fact that they didn’t unrstand their re dience and know enough about them,” Hodson, a gay man, told CNN about the ntroversy that began when the Anhser-Bch beer brand sent fluencer Dylan Mulvaney a n of beer.

GAY MOSW MOSW CY GUI

Gay Water, however, is out and proud. The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

“Puttg a product wh the word gay the tle is reprentatn self,” which he hop reclaims the word om the negativy ’s sometim associated wh.

He thought of creatg Gay Water about a year ago while on a vatn wh his iend that had got a job wh the beverage dtry.

THE 10 BEST RTRANTS NEAR GAY HEAD

The two chatted about the limed amount of gay people wh , and wh Hodson burnt out om his tradnal day job tech, started the nned cktail. Hodson built up a strong social media followg on TikTok and Instagram durg Covid-19 and is g some of the money om that (as well as om iends and fay) to help fund Gay Water.

GAY MOSW · CY GUI

“Gay is an umbrella term and the ia behd the brand is to be as clive as possible, which means we want alli, we want straight people to be part of this muny we’re buildg.”. For now, Gay Water is sold largely onle (wh a few retailers) and four sugar-ee flavors — watermelon, lime, peach and grapeu — at lnch. Gay Water might not have the ep pockets pared to s petors, like Whe Claw, but “even at small sle, pani of many siz are havg succs makg spir-based seltzers and premixed cktails,” Bryan Roth, an analyst for Feel Goods Company and edor of the alhol beverage newsletter, Sightl+, told CNN.

“There’s lots of space the spir-based seltzer tegory which Gay Water n play, pecially if the brand n offer a cultural or emotnal nnectn that will feel more excg than the prospect of another peapple-flavored vodka seltzer om natnal or ternatnal rporatns,” Roth said. Of urse, other drks e the word “gay,” too, cludg Gay Beer and So Gay Rosé, Hodson noted, which are also tryg to reach the queer muny and offer them an alternative the straight-domated space.

Michael Sam beme the first openly gay player to be drafted when the then-St.

STILL HERE AND STILL QUEER: THE GAY RTRANT ENDUR

The history of the LGBT muny metro Detro spans the cy’s past, but took new shape right after World War II when gay clubs began openg mostly downtown. This gay-owned Spanish tapas rtrant featur a lp of tradnal tapas, which are meant to be eaten small portns while sippg on the spot’s hoe-ma sangria or a craft cktail.

This relative newer to the cy’s nightlife scene isn’t explicly a gay bar, but ’s fely LGBTQ-clive, om s management to the event programmg on hand. Jo as we explore the excg dg scene one of the most gay-iendly ci the USA. It’s part gay bar and part rtrant.