Opn: Florida's 'don't say gay' bill is cel and dangero | CNN

Contents:

• HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO
• JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY
• DESANTIS-BACKED 'DONT SAY GAY' BILL SPARKS OUTRAGE
• DESANTIS SIGNS FLORIDA BILL THAT OPPONENTS CALL ‘DON’T SAY GAY’
• JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
• FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL IS CEL AND DANGERO
• JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

HERE'S WHAT FLORIDA'S 'DON'T SAY GAY' BILL WOULD DO AND WHAT WOULDN'T DO

But Florida’s Parental Rights Edutn act — which crics have dubbed the “Don’t Say Gay” bill — has sudnly sparked a natnal war of recent weeks, lears of global rporatns, edorial boards of major newspapers and Hollywood actors have all weighed on the proposed legislatn, wh some llg “eply disturbg” and others “nonntroversial. ” Conversely, opponents say would unfairly target the LGBTQ muny — particularly gay and trans stunts — and is “pretendg to solve a problem that don’t exist. For starters, cricism that the “Don’t Say Gay” bill do not fact say “gay” anywhere s text is te.

JAGS' MAXEN IS FIRST MALE AMERIN PRO SPORTS ACH TO E OUT AS GAY

The bill, which passed Florida’s Senate last week and the state’s Hoe of Reprentativ Febary, do, however, nta the terms “sexual orientatn” and “genr inty, ” each legal experts say that whether the bill prohibs the word “gay” self is a “distractn. “The ‘Don’t Say Gay’ moniker is a moniker about a certa polil amg of this suatn.

DESANTIS-BACKED 'DONT SAY GAY' BILL SPARKS OUTRAGE

”Beyond brandg, a re argument over the bill centers around whether would prohib the “stctn” or “discsn” of sexual bill’s sponsors have emphatilly stated that the bill would not prohib stunts om talkg about their LGBTQ fai or bar classroom discsns about LGBTQ history, cludg events like the 2016 adly attack on the Pulse nightclub, a gay club Orlando.

-- Jaguars assistant strength and ndng ach Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach major Amerin men's profsnal sports to publicly e out as gay, tellg he ma the cisn bee he didn't want to hi who he is any longer and to possibly spire others siar 's a cisn and move that drew praise and support om owner Shad Khan, who was a vol and emphatic supporter of a cy ordance that expand protectns on the grounds of sexual orientatn, genr inty and genr exprsn. Outsi lebacker Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player to e out as gay and to play a game Associated Prs ntributed to this report.

DESANTIS SIGNS FLORIDA BILL THAT OPPONENTS CALL ‘DON’T SAY GAY’

The advisory lists many of the velopments that have ma Florida ls safe beyond the var anti-LGBTQ+ laws that have been enacted, such as laws rtrictg abortn rights and reproductive tn, and the elimatn of Ain-Amerin studi, as well as an crease of homophobic and racial harassment and vlence. In orr to get hard data on how DeSantis’ culture war is impactg LGBTQ+ fai Florida, rearchers at UCLA’s Whe Instute nducted a survey to measure the rponse of LGBTQ+ fai to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill.

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

The report was released last January, and don’t reflect rponse to the latt round of anti-LGBTQ+ laws to e out of Tallahassee — cludg expandg the “Don’t Say Gay” bill to ver all school gras K-12.

Acrdg to the survey, “9 out of 10 (88%) LGBTQ parents are very or somewhat ncerned about the impact that HB 1557 [the “Don’t Say Gay” bill] will have on them and their children, wh one four reportg they have experienced anti-LGBTQ+ harassment sce the law was passed and one five reportg beg ls out their muni sce the law was passed. 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.

“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, however, is out and proud.

FLORIDA’S ‘DON’T SAY GAY’ BILL IS CEL AND DANGERO

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 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.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS ASSISTANT STRENGTH ACH KEV MAXEN OUT PUBLICLY AS GAY

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 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.