I lived unapologetilly as a Black gay man the 70s. Now I’m agg wh pri & digny. – SAGE

Contents:

• KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY
• BLACK, GRAY AND GAY: THE PERILS OF AGG LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR
• THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023
• I LIVED UNAPOLOGETILLY AS A BLACK GAY MAN THE 70S. NOW I’M AGG WH PRI & DIGNY.
• 90-YEAR-OLD GAY MAN RELLS LONG STGGLE WH HIS SEXUALY

KEV MAXEN BE FIRST MALE ACH A US MEN’S PROFSNAL SPORTS LEAGUE TO PUBLICLY E OUT AS GAY

Kev Maxen has bee the first male ach a US men’s profsnal sports league to e out as gay. Per Outsports, as of September 2022, there have only ever been 16 players NFL history to publicly e out as gay or bisexual.

Carl Nassib beme the first active NFL player league history to announce that he is gay 2021. 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 sea of nned cktails, Gay Water wants to stand out.

BLACK, GRAY AND GAY: THE PERILS OF AGG LGBTQ PEOPLE OF COLOR

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.

THE 8 TOP GAY CIS FOR 2023

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 LIVED UNAPOLOGETILLY AS A BLACK GAY MAN THE 70S. NOW I’M AGG WH PRI & DIGNY.

Who self-intify as lbian, gay, bisexual, transgenr and queer (LGBTQ) — about 1. Nursg hom and other long-term re facili are pecially problematic for black LGBTQ elrs, acrdg to Kenh Mchell, 62, a black gay man livg New Orleans.

“People need to be able to be their te selv; beg fearful and strsed impacts your qualy of life and your physil and mental health, " add Mchell, who serv as a board member for New Orleans Advot for GLBT Elrs (NOAGE) Burgs, 65, a black gay man Washgton D. “It’s not the same as beg a young gay person; there’s ls to do, and many of our peers have died om the AIDS epimic, ” he said. Plans ll for 15 efficiency uns, a “stone wall” on the grounds memoratg the 1969 Stonewall Inn Rts and a yellow brick road — a nod to days past when gay men would clanstely intify each other by askg, “Are you a iend of Dorothy?

When to gay cisg, gone are the days of discreet "Friends of Dorothy" meetups. The term – a phemism that dat back to the 1950s – was once ed to dite gay social events on daily cise le programs, whout explicly llg out members of the muny on board. As travel on the high seas ntu to bounce back om the COVID-19 panmic, gay and lbian travelers should nsir settg sail on a fun-filled cise vatn as their next planng a cise, vatners should first nsir what their ial sailg looks like.

90-YEAR-OLD GAY MAN RELLS LONG STGGLE WH HIS SEXUALY

Some cise operators (thk: Atlantis Events and La Demence) are known for their electrifyg, all-night parti, which may be perfect for gay groups of iends. Cisers should also thk about whether they'd like to travel aboard a gay-iendly mastream le, such as Celebry Cis or Virg Voyag, or opt for an all-gay, full-ship charter wh a third-party vatn pany. Of VACAYA's all-gay charters, he says, "For one magil week, our muny gets to be the majory and live life out loud the blissful utopia VACAYA creat on a gay cise.

"The all-gay cis were liberatg, empowerg, and fun, but limed to a small spectm of people. This le gets the stamp of approval om prev LGBTQ cisers, who praise the ships' genr-ntral bathrooms, onboard shows wh rint drag queens and diverse Voyag offers gay-specific sailgs through travel pani like Atlantis Events, but s more mastream erari still offer a welg, clive atmosphere that attracts LGBTQ cisers year-round.