K-pop: Why 's hard for stars to be gay South Korea | CNN

Contents:

• CANNED COCKTAIL GAY WATER AIMS TO RIGHT BUD LIGHT'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ SUPPORT
• HOMOSEXUALITY IN KOREA: KOREAN CELEBRI, GAY IDOLS AND MORE
• GAY SEOUL
• IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY
• IRS 'WHISTLEBLOWER X,' A GAY DEMOCRAT, REVEALS INTY AND TELLS CONGRS HE WAS BLOCKED OM INVTIGATG HUNTER BIN

CANNED COCKTAIL GAY WATER AIMS TO RIGHT BUD LIGHT'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ SUPPORT

In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

HOMOSEXUALITY IN KOREA: KOREAN CELEBRI, GAY IDOLS AND MORE

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

GAY SEOUL

“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. 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.

IN THE MP WORLD OF K-POP, ’S HARD FOR STARS TO BE GAY

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.

IRS 'WHISTLEBLOWER X,' A GAY DEMOCRAT, REVEALS INTY AND TELLS CONGRS HE WAS BLOCKED OM INVTIGATG HUNTER BIN

” One petn sent to the Mistry of Jtice prophied, whout any evince, that “homosexuals will try to sce everyone” if the bill were to bee law. ” In May, a top adviser to Print Yoon said “homosexualy n be treated, ” like a smokg hab (he later rigned).

Prottant Pastor Yonah Lee, a stnch supporter of Yoon’s polici, is often lled this untry’s facto “ex-gay” spokperson. ” Pastor Yonah Lee, center, leads an "ex-gay" march LifePastor Lee acknowledged that discrimatn agast LGBTQ dividuals is “wrong, ” but he argued that the Bible “nmns homosexualy” and baselsly claimed that an anti-discrimatn law that explicly protects LGBTQ people would “force church to close.