How Pansy Divisn blazed a trail as one of rock's first openly gay bands: 'It seemed like there were a lot of people wag for somethg like to happen'

Contents:

• THE ROCK PLAYED A GAY CHARACTER DPE BEG TOLD IT WOULD ‘RU’ HIS CAREER FOR GOOD
• DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON OPENS UP ABOUT PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER
• SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS

THE ROCK PLAYED A GAY CHARACTER DPE BEG TOLD IT WOULD ‘RU’ HIS CAREER FOR GOOD

Johnson's character Be Cool was Elt, an openly gay Samoan man who worked as a bodyguard the mic dtry and had dreams of beg a star himself. While a lot of the humor surroundg Elt volved the kd of mid-00s gay jok that probably wouldn't fly now, Johnson don't play him as a joke, mtg to the character fully.

)However, Johnson has jt revealed that those early stag of his actg reer, he was advised by some "fluential" dtry people to avoid playg gay, as uld "" his chanc of gettg bigger movie rol. I was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would “ my reer”I said “hold my tequila and f*ck off”Nicely of urse ? Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) July 31, 2022Philip Ellis is News Edor at Men's Health, verg fns, pop culture, sex and relatnships, and LGBTQ+ issu. AdvertisementDwayne ’The Rock’ Johnson has spoken out about the homophobic attus of “fluential folks” Hollywood rponse to him playg a gay character.

DWAYNE ‘THE ROCK’ JOHNSON OPENS UP ABOUT PLAYG A GAY CHARACTER

Johnson, who played an openly gay man named Elt the film, was one of his earlit film appearanc. Johnson, who is known as an ally to the muny, revealed that he was advised to avoid playg gay characters as uld “” his chanc of landg more proment rol the future.

“I was told back then (by a few fluential folks) that playg a gay man would ‘ my reer. 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.

SMELLS LIKE QUEER SPIR: HOW '90S PUNKS PANSY DIVISN BLAZED A TRAIL AS ONE OF ROCK'S FIRST OPENLY GAY BANDS

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. 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. 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. I feel would be a great thg for gay actors and actrs to e out.

It would be a posive step towards showg the world that as homosexuals, we are no different than anyone to mentn the urage and strength would give many gay youth to be ntent wh themselv, jt by beg able to intify wh someone famo jt by their sexualy.

A role mol for them to look up to wh the gay muny. Especially sce statistilly speakg, gay youth are 10 tim more likely to m suici over their straight unterparts.

Give a gay kid a reason to be.