Beg mixed-race, actor-producer Lee Doud has heard unbelievably ignorant ments om gay and bi men for much of his adult life.
Contents:
- THE URGENT QUTN GAY ASIAN-AMERIN MEN ARE ASKG THEMSELV
- NO ASIANS, NO BLACK PEOPLE. WHY DO GAY PEOPLE TOLERATE BLATANT RACISM?
- THE GAY ASIAN ACTIVIST WHOSE THEORI ON SEXUALY WERE DES AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
- GAYSIAN
- WHY GAY-IENDLY TAIWAN IS A CREATIVE HAVEN FOR LGBTQ ART
THE URGENT QUTN GAY ASIAN-AMERIN MEN ARE ASKG THEMSELV
Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg. * is asiahn gay *
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.
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.
NO ASIANS, NO BLACK PEOPLE. WHY DO GAY PEOPLE TOLERATE BLATANT RACISM?
Gay Asian-Amerin men are askg qutns of inty: What do beg Amerin mean? What is Asian enough? And how n queerns rencile s “no Asians” hab? * is asiahn gay *
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.
THE GAY ASIAN ACTIVIST WHOSE THEORI ON SEXUALY WERE DES AHEAD OF THEIR TIME
* is asiahn gay *
“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.
GAYSIAN
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.
In a culturally nservative muny, where gog to church and buildg a fay were heavily emphasized, Ahn felt his gay inty kept him “om beg able to participate Korean culture.
WHY GAY-IENDLY TAIWAN IS A CREATIVE HAVEN FOR LGBTQ ART
He learned to embrace beg both Korean and gay, so much so that he directed “Fire Island, ” a groundbreakg queer Asian Amerin rom- released last year.
Beg Asian Amerin and LGBTQ+ n feel lonely, wh stutns such as ethnic church often disavowg non-heterosexual relatnships while tradnal LGBTQ+ spac such as gay bars n be unwelg to people of lor.