Gay Water, a new nned cktail, wants to be the anti-Bud Light | CNN Bs

Contents:

• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• NY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL SILENC GAY STUNT AND ROLE MOL
• GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT
• TEACHER REMOVED US FLAG OM CLASS, ENURAGED STUNTS TO PLEDGE TO GAY PRI BANNER

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

It emerged as a social dance, set to dis, the unrground gay clubs of Los Angel the 1970s, the unencumbered exprsn of gay men of lor. But she said the unrground gay culture om which had emerged accepted and empowered her a way that more nventnal dance forms rarely did.

”In Taiwan, waackers lk the dance’s populary wh changg social norms that followed the legalizatn of gay marriage there 2019. 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.

NY PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL SILENC GAY STUNT AND ROLE MOL

“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. 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.

GAY WATER, A NEW NNED CKTAIL, WANTS TO BE THE ANTI-BUD LIGHT

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.

TEACHER REMOVED US FLAG OM CLASS, ENURAGED STUNTS TO PLEDGE TO GAY PRI BANNER

“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. Prcipal says wrg about overg homophobic bullyg is forbidnTyler Johnson his viral TikTok.

He was aaid of a talk he had to have wh Prcipal Mike O’Brien, who’d jt forbidn him to e out as gay a school publitn, had forbidn him to share how he’d overe bullyg and prsn that ed him severe mental and physil health problems as an early teen.

Tyler was thrilled to be selected as January’s Senr the TikTok vio embedd below, you n listen to one of his answers:So I answered tthfully wh the biggt challenge I’d had to overe: The biggt challenge I faced was growg up gay and g out. A California teacher is beg vtigated for sayg she removed the US flag om her classroom and enuraged stunts to stead pledge allegiance to a gay pri banner, district officials said. Pzen then shook her head and said she told the stunt that a flag was ed the classroom that he uld “pledge [his] allegiance to” before shiftg the mera to a gay pri banner hangg on a wall.