Ne of the biggt, most LGBTQ-supportive rporatns Ameri gave about $1 ln or more each to anti-gay policians the last electn cycle. Compani like AT&T, UPS, Comst, Home Depot and General Electric. All told, their donatns totaled almost $15 ln.
Contents:
- CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
- AS MAJOR BRANDS WAVER, GAY WATER AIMS FOR AUTHENTICY
- DON'T LET THAT RABOW LOGO FOOL YOU: THE 9 CORPORATNS DONATED MILLNS TO ANTI-GAY POLICIANS
CANNED CKTAIL ‘GAY WATER’ AIMS TO SH ON BUD LIGHT’S DYLAN MULVANEY DISASTER
Check out how pani are celebratg and supportg gay, LGBTQIA+ pri this year. * non gay brands *
GLAAD, an LGBTQ+ media advocy anizatn, has scribed Coors as "among the most progrsive for s employee polici toward gays. While n be nvenient to go to Walmart or another big brand to grab a Pri T-shirt, we’re gog to look at how big rporatns are g Pri Month for money, and behd the scen are dog the exact oppose of supportg gay rights.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equaly Inx is “the natnal benchmarkg tool on rporate polici, practic, and benefs pertent to lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer employe. 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.
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.
AS MAJOR BRANDS WAVER, GAY WATER AIMS FOR AUTHENTICY
Geni Pictur has optned Emmett Monterey’s memoir about growg up gay and disabled 1980s London for TV adaptatn. * non gay brands *
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. “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.
“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. In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.
DON'T LET THAT RABOW LOGO FOOL YOU: THE 9 CORPORATNS DONATED MILLNS TO ANTI-GAY POLICIANS
Growg up, Spencer Hodson said he mostly heard the term “gay” a negative ntext. Now, he wants to stigmatize the word and create reprentatn spac that tradnally don’t have LGBTQ-owned products, one Gay Water at a time. * non gay brands *
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. “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 northern Italian cy of Padua has started removg the nam of non-blogil gay mothers om their children’s birth certifit unr new legislatn passed by the “tradnal fay-first” ernment of Prime Mister Grgia Meloni. * non gay brands *
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.
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.