A moment that changed me: I was gay, disabled, alienated. Wh seven kd words, my life began | Pri | The Guardian

Contents:

• I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN
• MY HBAND'S SECRET GAY LIFE
• A MOMENT THAT CHANGED ME: I WAS GAY, DISABLED, ALIENATED. WH SEVEN KD WORDS, MY LIFE BEGAN
• "I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY

I’M 43 – BUT I’M MA TO FEEL LIKE A DOSR BY YOUNGER GAY MEN

Alas, the future, make sure you ask about payment polici up ont to protect to Roxane Gay at Gay is an endowed profsor of media, culture and femist studi at Rutgers, the thor of the forthg “Opns” and a ntributg Opn wrer. More about Roxane GayA versn of this article appears prt on, Sectn BU, Page 3 of the New York edn wh the headle: #MyBossMaMePostThisStupidJobListg. 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. The nned cktail is named after a lloquialism given to the popular mixed drk (vodka and soda) orred at bars by the gay muny.

MY HBAND'S SECRET GAY LIFE

“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.

A MOMENT THAT CHANGED ME: I WAS GAY, DISABLED, ALIENATED. WH SEVEN KD WORDS, MY LIFE BEGAN

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. He was terrified he’d be exposed as the lculatg bastard he is — not simply a closeted gay man ught after a rels discretn. But beyond knowg he is gay, the children know nothg of the rt of the story.

"I REALIZED I WAS GAY": MEN WHO CAME OUT LATER IN LIFE ARE SHARG WHAT IT WAS LIKE FOR THEM TO REVEAL THAT TTH AND LIVE AUTHENTILLY

Spillg out om the statn were more gay people than I had ever seen: an olr man mouflage bats wearg a pair of angel wgs, a tr of drag queens tight red sequs, polished as a Motown girl-group. I’d told Joanna I was gay when I was 16, while lyg on my livg room rpet, listeng to REM. Sometim I would buy a gay magaze, if the newsagent wasn’t too crowd, but the photos of smooth-mcled perfectn only creased my feelgs of alienatn.

I was gay and disabled.

When I found out earlier this month, along wh the rt of the world, that one of my favore actors, Kal Penn, is a fellow gay man and now engaged to his long-time partner, I was so happy that he was openly livg his tth. "I realized I was gay last year, after 36 years durg the lockdown.