Gay Water, a new nned cktail, wants to be the anti-Bud Light - WTOP News

Contents:

• WASHGTON, D.C.'S HIDN GAY HISTORY IS UNVERED 'SECRET CY'
• A GAY UPLE RAN A RAL RTRANT PEACE. THEN NEW NEIGHBORS ARRIVED.
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY
• A HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON THAT LETS HOMOPHOBIA STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT
• JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU
• WAS GEE WASHGTON GAY? CONSIR THE EVINCE
• THE GAYT PLACE AMERI?
• GAY SPOKANE TRAVEL GUI
• LGBTQ+ SUPPORT GROUPS WASHGTON
• GAYT PLAC IN WASHGTON FOR 2020
• WASHGTON’S HUNDRED-YEAR WAR ON GAYS
• GAY WASHGTON STATE

WASHGTON, D.C.'S HIDN GAY HISTORY IS UNVERED 'SECRET CY'

“Secret Cy: The Hidn History of Gay Washgton, " by Jam Kirchick, is a 654-page tome that took years of rearch and an exhstive vtigatn to printial archiv, historil terviews and once-classified ernment rerds.

“I realized that all the stori I was readg, and the personali and phenomena, whether was McCarthyism or the Reagans, FDR or JFK, that there were the gay stori lurkg the background, ” Kirchick said. “It was the specter of homosexualy that provoked the first and only suici by a member of Congrs his Capol Hill office, ed Lyndon Johnson to et that his historil lead would evaporate, and seized the paranoid md of Richard Nixon send only to the plots of his ever-expandg enemi list, ” Kirchick wr. ” Rumors of homosexualy were tastrophic to those who were acced of , but Kirchick also asks the rear to nsir the broar human and societal impact of such wch hunts on gay Amerins workg ernment.

“To asss the full sle of the damage that the fear of homosexualy wrought on the Amerin polil landspe, one mt take to acunt not only the reers ed and the liv cut short, but somethg vaster and unquantifiable: the possibili thwarted, ” Kirchick wr. Although openly LGBTQ people have ma their way to the hight ranks of ernment today, was not long ago that spected homosexuals workg for the feral ernment were hunted down, publicly huiated and termated wh the full force of the ernment.

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

” Wh those words, Clton would do somethg that would have seemed unfathomable to most, if not all, of his precsors: make an explic appeal to gay Amerins for their support a printial electn. 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. “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. “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.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

“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 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. )And yet the very skills gay people had to velop to survive — studns, partmentalizatn, discretn, erancy — ma them uniquely skilled, Kirchick pots out, to sensive tasks like pnage or high-level advisg. Fil, rrponnce, terview transcripts and prs clippgs — you n almost hear the old microfiche sheets tickg by — Kirchick holds the most dited persecutors, some of whom were themselv the closet, to sthg Morigi“Even at the height of the Cold War, was safer to be a Communist than a homosexual, ” he wr.

THE REVOLUTNARY WAR HERO WHO WAS OPENLY GAY

” Later, as tolerance grew (thanks part to the efforts of the Mattache Society, the gay rights anizatn whose evolutn is traced here), some nfirmed bachelors took the important seat once occupied by Perle Mta, the cy’s famed “hosts wh the mosts. Kirchick wr of Nancy Reagan: “Her own persona is pably, irreprsibly gay, embodied by the retue that signed, drsed, rted, entertaed, flattered, hoed, humored, pampered, styled and tillated her.

It would be bt read at the vlet hour wh a snifter of brandy a wood-paneled library, one of those wh a rollg ladr to brg down some of the fad midcentury bt-sellers rurfaced the pag, like Vidal’s “The Cy and the Pillar” — the narrative perks up nsirably whenever this ntent, urbane wrer arriv on the premis — “Washgton Confintial, ” by Jack La and Lee Mortimer (1951), wh s fabled “Garn of Pansi”; and “Advise and Consent, ” by Allen Dry (1959), which won a Pulzer and was ma to a movie by Otto ’s also a Baeker of important plac (map clud): the rollickg Chicken Hut bar where Teboe met his murrers; the “F Loop” of the Dupont Circle pickup scene that veloped the 1960s; the Cema Folli, the pornographic theater where ne men died a 1977 fire; the “gay rner” of the Congrsnal Cemetery; and, more hopefully, the Lambda Risg is overwhelmgly a gallery of the whe male gaytriarchy, wh lbians and people of lor mostly on the sil.

A HISTORY OF GAY WASHGTON THAT LETS HOMOPHOBIA STEAL THE SPOTLIGHT

Wh his new book, “Secret Cy: The Hidn History of Gay Washgton, ” Jam Kirchick tri to retrof the trope to a very specific subset of the District’s famoly diverse LGBTQ muny, ultimately verg a bewilrg amount of old ground whout offerg the rear much that n be lled new. Apart om notable appearanc by a handful of otherwise unrexplored gay and lbian polis — scrappy CIA officer Carmel Offie, Office of Strategic Servic trailblazer Cora Du Bois and Kennedy nfidant Lem Billgs, among others — “Secret Cy” largely foc on the pa experienced by, and at the hands of, faiar gay men like FBI Director J. Most gay voic, however, are drowned out by, even treated as ls credible than, those of homophobic straight people: Gossip lumnists, yellow journalists, embattled prints, nnivg senators, obsequ FBI agents and a rotatg st of ais all are relied upon as primary sourc a history that is not primarily theirs to tell.

Prs rps, how such homophobia has long manifted as mor and nuendo (pag and pag of which are here reproduced), the fluence of such homophobia on an enormo st of almost exclively Whe gay men, and how more than a few of those men played not-signifint rol the GOP’s long march to the far are not unimportant topics.

JAGUARS ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR U.S.-BASED PRO LEAGU

At one pot, for example, Kirchick attribut a “lack of Black participatn” an early gay rights anizatn, at least part, “to the fact that Washgton’s Black rints were mostly lols … and associatg wh a gay anizatn was signifintly harr while livg the cy where one’s fay rid. Siarly, while “Secret Cy” has ltle to say about lbians, the thor attempts to expla the silence away wh qutnable, and ultimately unstaable, claratns of how “persecutn generally targeted male homosexuals more severely than female on, a nsequence, part, of patriarchal attus privilegg men over women.

Equally troublg is the book’s uneven approach to the plited polics of “the closet, ” lurchg whout warng om requise portrayals of survival-by-secrecy to scribg, language both hackneyed and harmful, the ne gay victims of D. Riemer is a -thor of “We Are Everywhere: Prott, Power, and Pri the History of Queer Liberatn” and a -creator of the onle rource CyThe Hidn History of Gay WashgtonBy Jam KirchickHenry Holt. As Kramer knows, the terms "heterosexual" and "homosexual" were ed the late neteenth century, and many will dismiss the book bee he appears to be a bad historian by assertg morn ias about the past.

WAS GEE WASHGTON GAY? CONSIR THE EVINCE

Assertg that Gee Washgton was gay garners headl bee Amerins thk they know that Gee Washgton was as straight as uld be -- a visn that partly reli on the tradnal image of virtuo, Amerin manhood. The natnal average is jt unr 1 of my first observatns about my new cy was the throngs of gay men I would see over the urse of a typil day all over town — walkg their dogs my neighborhood before work, ridg the Metro, workg the halls of Congrs. “There’s an openly gay prence that mak you thk you’re the Castro or Wt Hollywood, and wasn’t always the se, ” Robert Raben, an assistant attorney general durg the Clton admistratn who was one of several openly gay people appoted by Print Clton, told me.

Vansa Vick for The New York TimSuch ubiquy isn’t jt an abundance of gay bars, though there are at least six wh walkg distance of my hoe the Logan Circle neighborhood of Northwt Washgton. On the days I make the 20-mute walk om home to my office near the Whe Hoe, I will pass one example after another of this cy’s thrivg gay enomy: a Mchell Gold & Bob Williams furnure store; a clothg retailer whose wdow displays regularly feature bare-torso, well-endowed mannequs nothg but ty briefs; three CrossF gyms; the offic of two gay newspapers, The Washgton Bla and Metro Weekly (most ci nnot even sta one); a bathhoe; and the natnal headquarters for the Human Rights walkg through the Dupont Circle neighborhood the other night would have found themselv fightg for siwalk space wh the hundreds of spectators — many of them straight — who had gathered to watch the 17th Street High Heel Race, an annual sprt for drag queens who tear down the block heels. And when I tried to make plans a few weekends ago, I found most of my iends were booked solid bee they were attendg one of two huge gay-themed events: the Human Rights Campaign annual black-tie dner, featurg Jennifer Lopez as the ma event; or the Miss Adams Man drag pageant, which is such a large productn tak over the Washgton our feral district is measured agast other ci wh large gay populatns, a parison that experts say is better than parg to stat, still ranks at the top of the list.

The numbers pture only those who acknowledge beg a same-sex gay man or lbian I spoke to for this article had a horror story about what was like workg the closet, fearg they would be found out. That meant orr to be nsired for many high-level jobs volvg accs to classified rmatn, gays and lbians had to nct a web of li about their personal Elmendorf, a Democratic lobbyist who worked on Capol Hill for years, scribed how he and his gay iends had to make sure they all gave the same referenc to ernment agents vtigatg their backgrounds, an surance policy so that if the qutn of their sexual orientatn me up, they uld be certa no one unpredictable would spill the Rosen, a longtime Democratic lobbyist, told me that the 1980s she once unsuccsfully tried to persua Senator Orr G. Richard Soris, a lawyer who was one of Print Clton’s openly gay appote, said that the early 1990s when he was applyg for a job on Capol Hill the office of Senator Tom Hark, Democrat of Iowa, one of the senator’s associat said that Mr.

THE GAYT PLACE AMERI?

Sean Bugg, executive director of the Next Generatn Learship Foundatn and edor emer of Metro Weekly, relled beg a reporter verg tax issu on Capol Hill 1990 when he bumped to another reporter he regnized at the Dakota Cowgirl, a popular gay bar at the time. Bar scene today, wh old stalwarts like JR’s, wh s one-for-every-taste clientele, and newer addns like Number 9, which n feel like perpetual happy hour for the cy’s gay polil-media plex.

Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Commtee, told me an pecially amb young man once hunted him down on the dance floor of a lol gay bar and hand him his résumé. Gradually, they have fanned out om Dupont Circle, which is now full of heterosexual fai, all across the of the anecdot and statistics raise a puzzlg qutn about the District’s gay and lbian populatn: Why are they all here?

GAY SPOKANE TRAVEL GUI

“All the straight people would leave, worryg about how they were gog to send their kids to Sidwell Friends, ” he said, referrg to the ele private school that graduated Chelsea Clton and currently t the Obama repeal of the ary’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy 2010 also helped draw more gay people out of the closet. Washgton has always had a large ary populatn, many of whom were sred of beg too open about who they were until the law gays and lbians moved om the recs of society to the mastream, few major ci have seen such an obv impact as Washgton.

Groups and naizatns clu: LGBT Book club, LGBT social and muny groups, LGBT bs chamber; gay/straight allianc all high schools lleg and universi; gay affirmg church; 2 night clubs; a LGBT film ftival; and we’ve had an openly gay cy uncilman. Larry’s Lounge is a gay neighborhood pub, wh always-affordable drks, solid happy hour specials, mouth-waterg pub fare (see: sweet potato tots) and one of the cy’s iendlit pats (you n brg your dog, too!

Missn: The Washgton State LGBTQ Commissn works to improve the state’s terface wh the lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, two-spir, and tersex muny, intify the needs of s members, and ensurg that there is an effective means of advotg for LGBTQ equy all aspects of state ernment. Visn: The Washgton State LGBTQ Commissn envisns a state where every two-spir, lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr, queer, and tersex Washgtonian of any age feels safe, supported, and empowered. That means there are a total of 10, 407 gay hoeholds The Evergreen goal wh this post is to e data and science to terme the gayt ci analyzg 150 ci wh over 1, 000 hoeholds, we’ve termed the are The Gayt Ci Washgton for 2020.

LGBTQ+ SUPPORT GROUPS WASHGTON

ColvilleEdgewood (Photos)Tumwater (Photos)Lake Fort Park (Photos)Seattle (Photos)Colfax (Photos)Babridge Island (Photos)North Bend (Photos)Kenmore (Photos)College PlaceWhat’s the gayt place Washgton? Acrdg to the facts, Colville is the gayt place Washgton for more on how we lculated the top ten, and for more rmatn about the plac, read you’re lookg for somethg more natnal, check out the gayt ci more Washgton readg, check out:Bt Plac To Live In WashgtonCheapt Plac To Live In WashgtonMost Dangero Ci In WashgtonThe 10 Gayt Ci In Washgton For 2020Hoeholds: 1, 986Rank Last Year: 2 (Up 1)Gay Hoeholds: 28 (44th hight)% Gay Hoeholds: 2. Ls than 4% of the cy land is zoned mercial; most of that is one lotn, and there are no dtrial Public domaHoeholds: 323, 446Rank Last Year: 8 (Up 3)Gay Hoeholds: 3, 169 (1st hight)% Gay Hoeholds: 1.

The populatn was 8, 765 at the time of the 2010 do you terme the bt ci for same-sex hoeholds Washgton for 2020In orr to rank the gayt ci Washgton, we ed the 2014-2018 Amerin Communy Survey om the U. We looked at:Percentage of all hoeholds that are unmarried, same sex partnersWe limed the analysis to non-CDPs that have over 1, 000 ranked each place om 1 to 150 wh the cy ntag the hight percentage of unmarried, same sex partners hoeholds beg the most the end, end up beg the the most gay place wh 2. Or skip to the end to see the list of all the plac the state om gayt to You Have It – The Most LGBT Friendly Ci In Washgton For 2020If you’re lookg at the number of gay hoeholds Washgton, this is an accurate you’re cur enough, here are the least gay plac Washgton:ZillahLake StevensEnumclawFor more Washgton readg, check out:Richt Ci In WashgtonSaft Plac In WashgtonWorst Plac To Live In WashgtonMost Expensive Plac To Live In WashgtonDetailed List Of The Gayt Plac To Live In WashgtonRankCyHoeholds% Gay Hoeholds1Colville1, 9862.

Ben Bradlee, the edor of the Post, had a gay brother—one whom he accepted—and he believed the public should know that such a proment nservative activist, an ally of the “Moral Majory, ” had died of AIDS, the disease that Print Ronald Reagan refed to name.

GAYT PLAC IN WASHGTON FOR 2020

As Jam Kirchick scrib vastatg tail Secret Cy, the “Amerin Century” was one of terrible opprsn the natn’s pal, where gays and lbians were hunted by the FBI and treated as secury threats equal to, if not greater than, Ameri’s fascist and Communist enemi abroad. In his diatribe agast the Post, Tony Dolan ced one of those nam—Whtaker Chambers, an ex-socialist and “reformed” homosexual who famoly acced the diplomat Alger Hiss of participatg a Communist cell—as he attacked the paper for failg to mentn his brother’s athbed sexual nversn.

Though gay men and women have shaped Washgton sce s foundg—among them Pierre Charl L’Enfant, the ary engeer who planned the cy—Kirchick foc his acunt on 70 or so years of the 20th century. Kirchick, an experienced journalist, draws together news clippgs, rrponnce, and archival materials to chronicle the “secret cy”: the work of bars, bookstor, and cisg grounds where gay people, many of them powerful ernment figur, lived parallel liv.

WASHGTON’S HUNDRED-YEAR WAR ON GAYS

The “Amerin Century” was one of terrible opprsn the natn’s pal, where gays and lbians were hunted by the FBI and treated as secury threats equal to, if not greater than, Ameri’s fascist and Communist enemi abroad. A gay man himself, and an outspoken nservative, Kirchick pulls no punch scribg the ntemptible behavr of right-wg (and some leftist) troglodyt who hound homosexuals the tabloids and Congrs.

But Secret Cy, though engrossg, novelistic, and eply sympathetic to mori persecuted the last century, do not rry s this forward to show how the same illiberal forc beme rporated to the prent-day Republin Party, which, wh s bathroom bans and “Don’t Say Gay” laws, has embraced tolerance as a platform. And although his motivatns were unclear, and the Rsians paid him well, beme mon wisdom across the Wtern world that Redl’s homosexualy had exposed him to blackmail, thereby brgg down an empire.

The Mattache Society, which had chapters San Francis and New York, at first maly ncerned self wh letter-wrg mpaigns and leafletg, seekg to activate gay people polilly and raise awarens among elected officials. The Mattache Society of Washgton also dissemated a newsletter for the burgeong gay muny, which ngregated at secretive bars like the Chicken Hut, the Renzvo, and the Ace of Spas, many of which required passwords to enter. Advise and Consent told the story of Brig Anrson, an upstandg Utah senator who fi reactnary anti-Communists but is driven to suici by a blackmail plot that threatens to reveal a long-ago homosexual liaison.

GAY WASHGTON STATE

Richard Nixon’s band of dirty tricksters—Attorney General John Mchell, Chief of Staff Bob Halman, ai John Ehrlichman—swore oaths to the Bure that they were not homosexuals, and that no “homosexual activi” ever took place at the Watergate Hotel or Apartments.