Gay Men and Alhol: The Relatnship wh the Bottle

Contents:

• GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM
• ALHOLICS ANONYMO AND GAY AMERIN MEN
• ESTATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK ON TWO GAY MEN HOLDG HANDS
• GAY AA: A LOOK AT LGBT GROUPS ALHOLICS ANONYMO
• OP-ED: THE FE LE BETWEEN GAY PRI AND ALHOLISM
• GAY MEN AND ALHOL: THE RELATNSHIP WH THE BOTTLE
• GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

GAY MEN, WE HAVE A DRKG PROBLEM

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.

ALHOLICS ANONYMO AND GAY AMERIN MEN

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.

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. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

ESTATE AGENT JAILED FOR VIC ATTACK ON TWO GAY MEN HOLDG HANDS

Per Outsports, Maxen is the “first publicly out male ach a major Amerin men’s pro sports league,” wh WNBA ach Curt Miller, who publicly me out to the media as gay 2015, also a publicly out male ach an Amerin profsnal sports league.

" In a society where beg homosexual was taboo, not to mentn illegal, those on the LGBT spectm gathered small bars across the untry where they would drk, let down their exterr fens, and miserate wh the people who accepted them for who they really were. The mic, the style, and the laws agast homosexualy have all changed, but that drk is still to today, s after the first brick was thrown at Stonewall, years after the 1990s brought gay characters to the mastream media, and months after same-sex marriage beme a right to all LGBT Amerins, the fn of gay culture is now limbo. For so long, the homo inty flourished the ghettos of gay bars, but today, the morn homosexual is a fully realized member of society.

GAY AA: A LOOK AT LGBT GROUPS ALHOLICS ANONYMO

Only problem, however, is that the roundg prence of alhol leadg up to this historic LGBT moment history has given him a b of a drkg no mistake, the lic, grty, and nt history of the gay bar is a betiful one.

I cut my teeth on cherry vodka sours well before I turned 21 at a rickety gay bar lled Moby Dicks, sneakg to the si door and tryg not to look the bartenr the eye. I wouldn't want to ny any young gay person that betifully msy but ultimately liberatg experience.

OP-ED: THE FE LE BETWEEN GAY PRI AND ALHOLISM

But there is this notn that by leavg the gay waterg hol and regnizg the stctive nature of bge drkg as you grow up, you are somehow rebg gay culture and "normalizg" to hetero the Slate article "The Gay Bar.

" one of my favore LGBT culture wrers, June Thomas, wrote about what seemed like the slow ath of gay life as she knew . "I'm relieved that for my generatn, gay bars are but one dish on a vast menu of leisure-time optns. "Some gay bars may close if they nnot pete, while others may bee ls gay and more "queer" as time go on.

However, this article reprents a popular belief that the substance of the gay ghetto and gay culture is wang jt bee gay bars are no longer the sgular avenu for our liv.

GAY MEN AND ALHOL: THE RELATNSHIP WH THE BOTTLE

Que ankly, the evolutn of morn gay life will only crease the prence of gay culture, as more men and women feel fortable exprsg their inty the way they stead of fightg to keep this boomg bar culture alive, younger generatns are champng new avenu and experienc that allow for gay men and women to navigate other areas of adulthood, wh their LGBT inti firmly tact. And whether you like or not, 's time to take a sober look at the health of the LGBT urse, alhol e and abe isn't unique to gay, bisexual, and trans people, but has e to be one of our most regnizable tras. The e and abe of substanc are lked to risky sexual gay should not be an ditor of an creased propensy towards substance abe.

But as the CDC stat, alhol and dg e among gay and bisexual men n be a reactn to homophobia, discrimatn, or vlence they experienced due to their sexual orientatn.

So, given this soberg rmatn, wouldn't the subtle wang of the gay bar culture dite a step the right directn? In an op-ed for The Advote tled "The Fe Le Between Gay Pri and Alhol, " I wrote about my own journey to refe my relatnship wh alhol.

GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN'S HEALTH ISSU

This year, I celebrate my gay pri by takg a ltle more pri who I am and the person I want to bee. And spe the sire we all have to be forever 21, that means olg on the booze so that this gay boy n start actg like a man. "This, however, stck a nerve among many people who do not want to see the gay party culture they know watered down for fear of the homogenizatn of what means to be dissentg menter, whose opn was shared by many, wrote rponse, "Drk if you want.

"To me, actg like the gay man I want to be means acknowledgg stctive behavrs for what they are (bge drkg, dg e, etc) and takg the steps to change them. To me, actg like a gay man means no longer selfishly maskg or dismissg bad habs to enable my behavr or the behavr of others.

To me, actg like a gay man means seekg better for myself and for my muny so that gay children today do not ntue to have higher rat of smokg, drkg, dg abe, and HIV. My health and the health of the muny I am a part of, however, n means to be gay will forever and always be synonymo wh the fabuloly alternative, the flamboyant, and the queer.