Pop star Will Young reveals childhood 'gay shame', eighti homophobia

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU
TO BE A GAY MAN BY WILL YOUNG – OUT AND PROUD
DWIGHT HOWARD SUED BY MAN CLAIMG NBA STAR FORCED HIM TO HAVE GAY THREOME
TO BE A GAY MAN
WILL YOUNG OPENS UP ABOUT GAY SHAMG AND ADMS HE 'SAYS WRONG THG ALL THE TIME'
POP STAR WILL YOUNG REVEALS CHILDHOOD ‘GAY SHAME’, EIGHTI HOMOPHOBIA

JAGUARS ASSOCIATE STRENGTH ACH OUT AS GAY A FIRST FOR US-BASED PRO LEAGU

Kev Maxen, an associate strength ach wh the Jacksonville Jaguars, has bee the first male ach a major U.S.-based profsnal league to e out as gay. * to be a gay man will young *

" Durg his early teenage years, he was stgglg wh ternalized homophobia. "I mean, I saw as a way out of my homosexualy, if that mak any sense.

’ You know, I don't have to be a gay guy. And all this horrible stuff that I thought about my homosexualy, and was like a light bulb. In a sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

TO BE A GAY MAN BY WILL YOUNG – OUT AND PROUD

* to be a gay man will young *

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.

DWIGHT HOWARD SUED BY MAN CLAIMG NBA STAR FORCED HIM TO HAVE GAY THREOME

The 41-year-old former Pop Idol wner got ndid about his personal experienc a ndid terview for BBC Newsnight on the subject of gay shamg * to be a gay man will young *

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.

TO BE A GAY MAN

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.

WILL YOUNG OPENS UP ABOUT GAY SHAMG AND ADMS HE 'SAYS WRONG THG ALL THE TIME'

“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.