HI, GAY! - Canned Vodka Soda Brand created by and for the LGBTQ+ muny Aims to Dtigmatize the word 'Gay', Lnch wh Four Inic Flavors

Contents:

• THE WATERMELON WOMAN SHOWS THE POWER OF GAY HISTORY
• GAY WATERMELON
• WATERMELON GAY MEN PRI
• CANNED COCKTAIL GAY WATER AIMS TO RIGHT BUD LIGHT'S LACK OF LGBTQ+ SUPPORT
• GAY WATER CLAPS BACK AT BUD LIGHT'S INSCERE LGBTQ+ SUPPORT
• HI, GAY! - CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND CREATED BY AND FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AIMS TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD 'GAY', LNCH WH FOUR INIC FLAVORS

THE WATERMELON WOMAN SHOWS THE POWER OF GAY HISTORY

The movie follows Cheryl, played by Dunye, as she attempts to make a documentary about Faye Richards, better known as the Watermelon Woman: a gay, black 1930s actrs whose rol as mammi and hoemaids did not do jtice to her elive and plex life.

In the procs, Cheryl works her day job at a vio rental store, begs a relatnship wh a whe woman, and learns more about black women’s history— film, the gay muny, and her native Philalphia—than she ever anticipated.

He tried unsuccsfully to get his lleagu Congrs to duct Dunye’s $31, 500 grant om the NEA budget, cg NEA fundg for a seri of gay and lbian films that “most Amerins would fd offensive” and referrg to The Watermelon Woman specifilly as “patently offensive and possibly pornographic. Black lbians exist at the crossroads of three of Ameri’s most persistent iqui: they are black, and women, and gay.

GAY WATERMELON

Through terviews, archival work, and lots of time watchg early black cema, she eventually disvers that the Watermelon Woman was named Fah Richardson—Faye Richards to Hollywood—and that she’d begun her reer as a performer Philalphia’s gay clubs, sgg drsed a top hat and whe tuxedo. ” The msage is that black lbianism is somethg need of fense, somethg uniquely imperiled and also uniquely Watermelon Woman premiered at the Berl Internatnal Film Ftival 1996, and then went on to play at a slew of gay and lbian film ftivals worldwi. 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.

WATERMELON GAY MEN PRI

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.Spencer Hodson/Instagram. 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 6.1-ch height. “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?

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

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.”Spencer Hodson/Instagram. Gay Water’s brandg is full of playful, suggtive msagg.

GAY WATER CLAPS BACK AT BUD LIGHT'S INSCERE LGBTQ+ SUPPORT

“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. I signed this new flag for the gay men muny: the lours stand for creativy, empathy, ialism, hope and sereny. Also pk is for the historil meang, whe is for GNC people and solidary wh the trans and lbian flags, and green is a ref to osr wil and gay men the 19th century!!

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. “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.

HI, GAY! - CANNED VODKA SODA BRAND CREATED BY AND FOR THE LGBTQ+ MUNY AIMS TO DTIGMATIZE THE WORD 'GAY', LNCH WH FOUR INIC FLAVORS

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. 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.